Queen Elizabeth’s School’s thriving alumni network provides innumerable opportunities and benefits, both to our old boys themselves and to current pupils. It is truly a network for life.
From the day that they join the School in Year 7, pupils become part of a unique community which includes not only their peers, but those who have gone before and those who will come after.
They can immediately draw intellectual and motivational inspiration from our frequent visiting Old Elizabethan speakers. And, as they progress through the School, boys will be able to benefit individually from the assistance and advice of alumni who have gone on to study at the world’s leading universities and into successful professional careers.
From work experience programmes and internships to mock university interviews and mentoring, our old boys are involved in providing expert help commensurate with our pupils’ specific, detailed needs. Moreover, that help comes from every generation of Elizabethan, from last year’s leavers to the former pupils of previous decades who have now risen to senior positions in their careers.
In short, our pupils have access to an alumni network providing lifelong connections that is now a match for any other.
For our alumni themselves, much that is good has already been established and we are wildly ambitious in our future plans. We therefore invite old boys of every generation to be part of something that is becoming very special indeed.
Our alumni network takes many shapes and exists both online and in the physical world.
We do much to facilitate old boys reconnecting with each other and with the School. Throughout the year, several of our major calendar events – Founder’s Day, the Rugby Sevens and our Carol Service, for example – are now tailored with Old Elizabethans in mind, while there are events exclusively for OEs, such as the Old Elizabethans Association Dinner. All such events are opportunities to network professionally, to rekindle old friendships and to explore the latest developments at the School. We are, of course, always happy to welcome alumni back to their old School and show them around: please let us know in advance if you would like to come, so we can ensure a proper welcome.
There are also many ways in which alumni may ‘give something back’, in line with QE’s tradition of service and our mission to produce responsible young men who contribute to society.
These can be discrete occasions, such as delivering a short talk and answering questions from boys and their parents at our annual Year 11 Careers Convention.
Many alumni choose, however, to become involved on a more regular basis: we will work carefully with them to match their skills, interests and availability of time to needs within the School.
Finally, we welcome contributions of every size from those who wish to contribute financially and thereby make an investment in the School for the benefit of present and future generations. Such donations may be one-off gifts, although many OEs choose instead to make regular contributions.