Getting Involved
When you joined the School you became an Elizabethan for life. We want to see you continue to derive benefit from belonging to this special community throughout your lives and to enable you to remain an active member of it.
We aspire for our boys to go to the world’s leading universities and to have the best careers. We want to broaden pupils’ horizons, making them aware of the vast array of opportunities open to them. And we aim to give them every advantage while they are here, including access to the latest resources, the best facilities and the finest brains.
To achieve all of that, we need the help of our old boys – and there is a whole range of options for those willing to help. In fact, such support is already taking place on a significant scale, with alumni variously giving their time, expertise and money: we are grateful to you all. Now, through QE Connect, our new online community for Old Elizabethans, we hope to make it even easier and more straightforward for others to get involved. Please sign-up today.
Many of our leavers are the first generation of their families to attend university and enter professional careers. They do not have the advantage of family and other connections typically enjoyed by pupils from fee-paying schools, which makes the support offered by our network of Old Elizabethans all the more valuable.
By getting involved to support the current generation of pupils, you will, of course, gain the fulfilment that comes through “seeking to make a contribution to society rather than pursuing only personal gain”, as one of our Mission objectives puts it.
Those able to give financially, whether through regular giving or the donation of lump sums, also reflect this QE ethos of the service of others and our tradition of philanthropy. There are a number of donation options available to our alumni and other friends of the School, of which details can be found on our Supporting QE pages. Bespoke giving opportunities are also available and our development office would be delighted to assist. Information on how past giving has contributed to the creation of our current inspirational learning environment may be found on our Giving to QE campaign page.
Through QE Connect and our wider alumni programme, we also want to help you stay in touch with the School and with each other, to build an maintain much valued social and professional connections.
The main ways in which OEs can help are shown on this page. Of course, only you know what is right for you, but note that most of these areas do not require a huge time commitment, often being very occasional in nature. Some may therefore be keen to be involved in several different ways. While much of this work involves supporting current pupils, there is scope for our alumni to help fellow OEs, most often (but not necessarily limited to) those at the outset of their careers. We see it as another valuable aspect of what the Elizabethan community can offer.
- Work experience placements for Year 11s
Contact us if you would like to offer short placements for boys beginning to consider future careers. - Internships for Sixth Form students
Holiday internships can play an important role for sixth-formers looking to confirm their career direction. Please get in touch if you can offer opportunities. - University and personal statement advice
If you have the skills and experience to advise senior boys during the university application process, we would like to hear from you. - Mock interviews, including the annual University Mock Interview Evening in October
We aim to make our mock interviews as realistic as possible. If you would like to join our interview panels, let us know. - Career advice
Expert, detailed guidance from those who have ‘been there, done it’ is always useful! - CV reviewing
Help our senior boys fine-tune this essential document so that it corresponds well to their chosen future pathway. - Internships for recent OEs
We are eager to hear from alumni able to help recent Old Elizabethans gain experience in their desired professional field. - Giving talks & lectures
Through our thriving lecture programmes, we seek to inspire and inform boys of all ages. If you would relish the opportunity to be one of our speakers, please get in touch. - Help at events
Events such as our Year 11 Careers Convention provide opportunities for alumni to share their career experience and insights with boys and their parents. - Financial support for the School
By giving to the Friends of Queen Elizabeth’s, help us achieve our ambitious Estates Strategy and also enhance extra-curricular and academic enrichment opportunities for our current pupils and for generations to come.
QE Connect
Sign-up or log-into QE Connect, our new social and professional networking platform exclusively for Old Elizabethans and Friends of the School. The platform will help you stay connected with the School and each other, allow you to access new contacts and career opportunities, and facilitate your active support of the current boys at the School – in whichever ways are most appropriate for you.
Click hereAkash Gandhi, OE 2005-2012
Akash, who is a Junior Doctor in Harrow, helps our aspiring Sixth Form medics with their UCAT (University Clinical Aptitude Test) preparations. At QE, Akash played cricket and was involved in debating, peer mentoring and the Sai School Appeal, supporting a school in India. He was a Senior Lieutenant, then one of the leading positions within the prefect team. He took a first-class degree with prize & honours in Natural Sciences at Cambridge.
The guest speaker at QE’s 2019 Junior Awards Ceremony, Akash told the audience: “I am proud to be an Old Elizabethan and ...I feel extremely fortunate to return here more or less every year since I left to help some of the older pupils.” He added that, although some things had changed since his own School days, he was reassured to see that the foundations of “hunger, ambition and dedication” that had characterised generations of Elizabethans remain firmly in place.
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Neil Madhvani, OE 1992-1999
Neil, who supports the School through regular financial giving, started his career in entrepreneurial style by setting up two businesses while still at QE; he has subsequently built a successful career with one of the world’s biggest investment banks.
His first business specialised in computing, while the second tapped into the burgeoning mobile phone market. It quickly prospered: Neil ran a shop for six years and even set up a spin-off internet business.
He read Information Systems Engineering at Imperial College and, after graduating in 2004, joined UBS in London, before taking up a position in Singapore from 2007-2018. Now based in Zurich, he has continued in his role of Global Service Manager within the bank’s Cyber Security Services organisation.
“I enjoy actively supporting the School and reading about the many continued successes, which are a result of the unwavering commitment in the pursuit of excellence, and to develop well-rounded individuals,” he says. Neil uses social media to keep in touch with OEs worldwide.
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Kane Evans, OE 2003-2010
After leaving QE, Kane studied History at Christ's College, Cambridge, and then took an internship with Manchester United Football Club, where he quickly rose to co-ordinate a team as a Senior Commercial Analyst. He now works as a Commercial Business Intelligence Manager for Formula 1 and is a firm believer in the pivotal role that high-quality research and strategic planning can have for a sports business.
A regular participant at QE events and the guest speaker at the 2017 Elizabethan Union Dinner Debate, Kane also took part in the 2018 Careers Convention, chatting to, and answering questions from, Year 11 pupils and their parents. “I feel incredibly privileged to have been a pupil at QE, and I am beholden to the School for the indelible mark it has made upon my life and for what it has allowed me to achieve. QE is secondary only to my parents in this regard, and it is this debt of gratitude, which I can never fully repay, that drives me to assist the School and its pupils in any way that I can.”
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Kam Taj, OE 2004–2011
Performance coach, speaker and author Kam Taj (Kamran Tajbakhsh) has assisted the School in various ways, including leading a workshop on Oxbridge preparation for sixth-formers and giving ‘life lessons’ to younger boys as part of the Lower School lecture programme. After leaving QE, Kam took a first in Manufacturing Engineering at Churchill College, Cambridge, and gained a Master’s degree with Merit in the same discipline.
On graduating, he initially took up a post as a management consultant, but then decided in 2016 to become a performance coach and motivational speaker. He works primarily with high-potential students and young professionals on performance improvement and goal attainment, with a strong focus on excellence in academic and professional aspects of life. Aside from coaching work, he speaks at schools, universities and other institutions.
“My personal mission is to inspire, empower and educate the next generation of world-changers, impact-makers and thought-leaders. As such, I'm immensely grateful for the opportunity to help intelligent, ambitious QE students to fulfil their potential while overcoming the adversities and obstacles they encounter on their path," Kam said.
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Ross Lima, OE 1995-2002
Ross, a Commercial Solicitor at Shell providing support for its global shipping fleet, supports the School by providing work placements. Each year, Ross (OE 1995–2002) makes it possible for a QE sixth-former to shadow him in Shell’s legal department; several have subsequently used this experience to strengthen their applications to read Law at Oxbridge. Ross also supports the School in other ways: in 2018, for example, he gave the after-dinner address at the Elizabethan Union Dinner Debate.
After leaving QE in 2002, Ross read Law at Sheffield. He spent nearly six years with international law firm Field Fisher Waterhouse, before joining Shell in 2013. He is Executive Chairman of Inter-Club, a 1,500-member organisation holding events in Pall Mall and St James’s. Ross is also Company Secretary for HiLo Maritime Risk Management, a data analytics company advising the maritime industry on safety risks and improvements.
"I look back fondly on my time at QE and am happy to help current students progress and to achieve their potential, in the hope that they do the same themselves in the future," he said.
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