QE goes global with plans for three overseas schools; national award for best A-level results

The announcement earlier this month that Queen Elizabeth’s School was the Sunday Times Schools Guide State Secondary School for A-levels 2025 was welcome independent confirmation that the performance of this summer’s leavers at A-level really was superb. A remarkable 52.9% of A-levels taken at QE were at A*, with nearly a quarter of QE’s biggest-ever Year 13 achieving straight A*s.

In order to maintain and build on such success, I am working with my colleagues and with Governors to formulate strategic priorities for a new School Plan that will take us from September 2025 to cover the next five years.

A great deal of work has been done this term under our new estates strategy as we get ready to submit a pre-planning application for our future sports hall. While we move forward with the very earliest stages of that long-term project, and with our plans to eventually create a Fern Café, we celebrate the recent installation of carefully selected audio-visual equipment in The Robert Dudley Studio; this is already helping us realise the studio’s full potential as a flexible venue for drama, dance and the spoken word. I thank all the 450 Club members, whose names now proudly adorn the back of our sponsored seats. I was so pleased that the Forty Society also chose collectively to sponsor a seat in the studio. I very much enjoyed attending their meeting this term.

While the completion of the studio represents the final piece of the jigsaw of our previous estates strategy, the announcement of our plans to open three affiliate schools in India and the United Arab Emirates signals the start of an exciting new chapter in the QE story. The project is being run through the Friends of Queen Elizabeth’s (FQE) – a registered charity which exists to support the School in Barnet and its pupils – and with our commercial partner, GEDU Global Education. (Read FQE’s recently published 2024 Impact Report here). This term has seen considerable activity by GEDU, supported by senior staff here; there has been progress, especially, with the vital task of appointing the founding headteachers of the three global QE schools. I am pleased to say there has been vocal support from OEs living in and around Dubai, including our 2007 School Captain, Omair Ahmed (2001–2008); Farshad Dabeshkhoy (1997–2005); Jai Doshi (2003–2010) and Murtaza Jivanjee (1997–2004). These four are keen to establish a network of alumni in the region. Omair’s brother Asif is directly involved in the project (see below). I invite anyone interested in these developments to touch base, whether you are an OE in the UAE, or are currently living in India, especially if you are near our planned locations in GIFT City, Gujarat, and in Gurugram, near Delhi.

The subject of the OE Spotlight in this term’s Sports Bulletin is Sunil Tailor (1999–2006), who is Saracens RFC’s Head of Commercial Finance. His School friend, Robert Firth (OE 1998 – 2005), also comes in for an honourable mention!

The summer holidays and Autumn Term have seen our boys enjoying great success in both national and international competition. A QE team won in Europe in the continental round of the World Economics Cup and then achieved second place in the international finals. In the Ritangle Mathematics competition, we not only won for the second consecutive year, but second place went to the QE team who were last year’s winners. Similarly, in the regional round of the popular Top of the Bench Chemistry competition, QE came first and second.

As that winning team of young chemists heads off for the competition’s national finals in the spring, they can be inspired by the towering achievement of Sir Demis Hassabis (OE 1988–1990), who has won the Nobel prize for Chemistry. The Nobel committee were fulsome in their praise for his work, describing it as a “stunning breakthrough” that was of “the greatest benefit to humankind”.

I look forward to hearing in the future about other QE alumni who have thus distinguished themselves, while similarly seeking, as our current School Plan has it, “to change things for the better, both in [their] own community and in society at large”.

In this traditional season of goodwill to all, I wish all Old Elizabethans a happy holiday.

Neil Enright

Headmaster

Class of 2014 lead the way at annual dinner

Around 120 guests made the 2024 OE Annual Reunion Dinner a memorable night, with attendance matching the record set at 2023’s 450th anniversary-year event. Diners included old boys from every decade from the 1950s to the present, including a large contingent of ten-year leavers – 2014’s Year 13. Click the link below to see our gallery of professionally taken photos on QE Connect.

Expert financial help with international project

Asif Ahmed (OE 1997–2004) is a good example of an Old Elizabethan giving back to his School – in his case, this includes adding professional value at a governance level. Asif recently became a director of FQE International Enterprises Ltd, a newly created subsidiary of FQE. It is through this subsidiary that QE will open its affiliate schools in UAE and India; FQEIE’s role is to manage the commercial relationship with our international partner, GEDU, ensuring that the School benefits from the income that will be generated in the future. Asif has in-depth experience of start-ups. He leads the team at major accountancy firm Cooper Parry which focuses on venture capital-backed company founders. He also wrote a best-seller in this field: The Finance Playbook for Entrepreneurs. Asif was Guest of Honour at this year’s Junior Awards. He is also a member of the 450 Club.

From the QE Careers Convention to colleagues at the Cabinet Office

From OEs Andrei Sandu and Darshan Patel comes an inspiring account showing the power of the guidance that our alumni community can give current pupils who are thinking about their futures. Their joint story starts at the 2018 Careers Convention, where Andrei (OE 2007–2014) was representing the Civil Service and Darshan was a Year 12 student uncertain about his future. It ends with Andrei and Darshan (OE 2012-2019) unexpectedly working together at the Cabinet Office!

Alumni out in force for mock interviews

A record 90 OEs and other friends of the School conducted more than 150 individual online mock interviews throughout November and December. There was also a special contribution from Kavi Samra and Paul Jung (both OE 2008–2015), who are both medical doctors and entrepreneurs. As part of QE’s Pathways to Medicine programme, the pair of former UCL medics held three days of mock medical interviews in school. Kavi and Paul founded the MedleyAI education app. Assistant Head James Kane says: “I thank all our alumni who gave their time so generously. I especially thank Drs Samra and Jung: all 33 of this year’s QE medical applicants participated, benefitting greatly from the personal feedback they delivered.

“May I also give an early mention for our Careers Convention on 12th February? Alumni support is essential in making this all-day event a success, so if you can help, or would like to know more, please get in touch.”

Supporting QE by giving

An increasing number of our alumni are supporting the School through financial giving: whether the gifts are large or small, we are deeply grateful for each and every one. As a state school, we need such support in order to continue offering life-changing opportunities to bright boys, regardless of background. To make a one-off or regular gift, click the button below. If you would like to sponsor an extra-curricular activity for current pupils, are interested in remembering QE in your will, or have any other questions about giving, our Development Office will be glad to help.

Half a century on, German assistant Dieter shares his memories – prompting one of his A-level students to make a return visit to the School

The QE community extends well beyond current pupils and their families, and even beyond Old Elizabethans. Evidence of this came early this term when the School’s 1974–1975 German assistant, Dieter Pinkowski, asked if he could visit. He has fond memories of the School and of the sixth-formers he worked with. And at least one of those sixth-formers also retains equally warm memories of their time together – having learned of the visit and of Dieter mentioning him, Keith Newton (OE 1968–1975) got in touch with the School. On his own return to Queen’s Road, Keith told the Headmaster how he had been inspired to read Geography at Durham by a School trip. His career has been in logistics, including at large brands such as Cadbury. He was Secretary General of the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport for nine years and now runs his own consultancy.

Keith, who was a First XI bowler at QE, said: “I remember Dieter came from Braunschweig, an industrial town in the east of what was then West Germany, before unification. In my year of A-levels, a trip to Hamburg was cancelled, so being able to speak the language with a German of similar age was invaluable. We also learnt a lot about German football, I remember!”

OE wins Nobel prize for Chemistry

Sir Demis Hassabis is believed to be the first Old Elizabethan ever to win a Nobel prize. The Nobel Committee hailed the huge potential of his work, which harnessed the power of AI to predict the structure of some 200m proteins.

Sandeep elected to top position at US university

Economist and academic Dr Sandeep Mazumder is to be the ninth president of Berry College – a private university in Rome, Georgia, USA. Sandeep (OE 1993–2000), who frequently gives his time to support Economics at QE, was elected by a unanimous vote of the Berry College Board of Trustees. Currently the Dean of the Hankamer School of Business at Baylor University in Texas, he will take up his new post on 1st July 2025. After studying at Cambridge, Sandeep moved to the US to complete his PhD at Johns Hopkins University. He served as an Economics Professor and Chair of the Economics Department at Wake Forest University before assuming his current role at Baylor. Responding to the announcement, Sandeep said he was “honoured and humbled”, adding: “I look forward to joining the amazing community and breathtaking campus at Berry, and telling the world about this Georgian gem.”

QE’s former sound supremo wins scholarship for his university course

2024 leaver Indrajit Datta has been awarded a £30,000 scholarship to support him during his degree in Music and sound recording. Until this summer, Indrajit was frequently on hand to help with sound and lighting at QE, increasingly taking responsibility for concerts and other events.

Andrew’s work affects the lives of millions

Dr Andrew Thomas’s social policy research helped pave the way for major changes in the way the British state operates, ranging from the development of HMRC’s web-based tax returns to the ending of statutory retirement ages.

And finally…

We trust you have enjoyed reading this edition of the QE Connect e-magazine produced by QE for all our old boys. What next? Well, if you haven’t already discovered QE Connect, our online social and business network, why not take a look.