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Oliver Todd acknowledges his debt to the School as he looks to break into the competitive world of journalism.

Oliver (OE 2005-2010) has successfully combined his studies at the University of York with his commitment to journalism. In 2012 and 2013 Oliver was shortlisted for two individual student journalism awards and was on the winning team for a best publication award.

He was nominated for The Guardian’s award for best Student Journalist and for the National Union of Students’ (NUS) Student Journalist award – which effectively placed him in the top six in the country in both categories and credits the School with helping him to learn how to keep focused, particularly in the Sixth Form.

He received a Special Commendation from the NUS for his work and led his student newspaper, York Vision, to the runners-up spot in the Best Student Media category at the NUS Awards. He was also involved with the same publication the previous year when it was awarded Best Student Publication at the Guardian Student Media Awards.

Oliver has undertaken a wide range of work experience with national media organisations, including The Guardian, the Daily Mail, Sky News and Sky Sports and is aiming to pursue a career in the industry once he has undertaken more training.
 

Kwamina Korsah is inspiring the next generation through an élite teacher-training scheme targeting the socially disadvantaged.

He is taking part in Teach First, a programme run by a registered charity which aims to place the brightest graduates into some of the toughest and most socially deprived schools in the country.

Kwamina (OE 2000-2007) read History at Magdalene College, Cambridge, and then joined a brand consultancy on graduation, but after 18 months he took some time out to travel and re-evaluate. Needing a new challenge and finding the ethos of Teach First inspiring, he signed up to the programme.

Teach First begins with an intensive six-week course. Almost the whole of the two years of the programme are then spent teaching in placement schools – in Kwamina’s case, Hatch End High School, a mixed comprehensive in Harrow with 1,800 pupils, and the Mossbourne Community Academy in inner-city Hackney. Essays must be written and the theoretical side mastered during the holidays. During his placements, in addition to teaching his subject he is expected to deal with frequent pastoral issues.

Kwamina also spent a week of the programme at QE, gaining valuable experience of working with very able children. He values the transferable skills gained through participation in Teach First, such as organisation, presentation, communication and time-management.
 

Two QE contemporaries went to the same two universities and now work in the same prestigious architectural practice.

OEs Andrew Grethe and Devan Mistry, pictured at the top of the Shard skyscraper in London, both joined the School in 2000 when they were placed in the same form and the same House (Leicester). They then moved up through the School side-by-side, both taking Art and Physics at A-level, before leaving QE in 2007 to pursue their studies together at The University of Nottingham and the London Metropolitan University.

The two then went on to take up employment at Terry Farrell and Partners (‘Farrells’), which is one of the UK’s most prestigious practices and has offices in London, Hong Kong and Shanghai. Known for its expertise in urban regeneration, its famous projects include Charing Cross railway station, the Greenwich Peninsula and Newcastle Quayside.

Devan avers that his time at QE was important in nurturing the skills required for his future career and acknowledges the role played by his Art teachers in helping him to develop a keen eye for composition. During his spare time, Devan would travel to various art galleries across London to sketch sculptures, artefacts and people passing by. From that he moved on to draw the external facades and three-dimensional forms of many buildings and structures in and around London.

Devan’s first contact with Farrells came when he gained a two-week placement in the summer after completing his GCSEs. He continued working at the firm in his vacations during his three years at Nottingham, and spent his compulsory one-year placement there. During that year he worked on several high-profile projects, such as the redevelopment of the prestigious St Ermin’s Hotel in London and the design of a new masterplan for the Nine Elms area in Battersea.

In 2012 he spent five months in Farrells’ sister office in Hong Kong where he gained international experience working on major design projects such as The Springs in Shanghai, China (a key retail and residential quarter for one of the fastest growing cities in the world), West Kowloon Cultural Masterplan, Hong Kong (“probably the equivalent of the Southbank Centre in London multiplied ten times over”) and a new banking headquarters for Vattanac Capital in Cambodia.

For his part, Andrew has worked on three large-scale residential projects with part-retail elements: Bicester Eco Village; Skylines, Canary Wharf and Convoys Wharf, Deptford.

Both agree that their working relationship and friendship can be ascribed to their education and the atmosphere created for them at Queen Elizabeth’s. Ultimately they hope to form their own architectural practice.
 

This year’s Founder’s Day guest speaker, Christos Karaolis, related how he found himself caught up in a national media storm when he was photographed playing croquet with John Prescott.

After leaving QE, Christos (OE 1995-2002), pictured second from left, completed a degree in Law at Trinity College, Oxford (where he also learned to play croquet) and then worked for a period as a political writer for the then-Deputy Prime Minister.

His first involvement in politics had come in 2001, when, as a Year 12 pupil, he volunteered to be the Labour candidate in the School’s mock election, held to coincide with that year’s General Election.

He told the congregation gathered in Chipping Barnet Parish Church for the Founder’s Day Thanksgiving Service: “In 2006, we were at our office away-day at the Deputy Prime Minister’s country residence, and when it was suggested that we play croquet, I thought, ‘why not?’

“As it turned out an eagle-eyed photographer with a long lens camera was waiting at the bottom of the garden, and well, we discovered ourselves on the front page of every newspaper the following morning, and something of a laughing stock for the nation.” The episode led to calls for Mr Prescott’s resignation.

“The lesson to learn – sometimes in life, things just don’t go as you had intended,” said Christos. “The answer, of course, is to realise that it happens to everyone and that you should bounce back as soon as you can.

“My experience in the political world was a good one and it taught me a crucial lesson for my adult life; that you can disagree, sometimes strongly, with someone for their views or beliefs, but still respect, and indeed like them, for their hard work and commitment to what they do, even if your perspective may be significantly different.”

He also spoke on the importance of friendships forged and lessons learned during his time at QE: “To this day, I still regularly see my friends from School who have gone on to have successful and diverse careers … our common thread is the School that gave us so much and put us on the road to those successes.”

And he advised the boys: “Use the advice of more experienced people – older boys, Old Elizabethans and those who you might just see as old; your teachers and parents; as I know their ideas and inspiration count for so much.”

After his brief stint working in politics, he went to law school, completed his Bar examinations and qualified as a Barrister.  He recalled how much he had gained at QE from the Young Enterprise scheme and how he applied knowledge acquired then on a daily basis in his current employment as a business strategy consultant.

For the last six years, he has also led a 15,000-member global organisation for young Cypriots. “What I love about London, our city, and indeed about QE, is that we are such a wonderfully multi-cultural society where there are so many ways that we can celebrate and share that diversity.”

After the Thanksgiving Service, rain started to fall as the Headmaster began the traditional roll call in front of the School; it continued during the afternoon. The Stanley Busby Memorial Cricket Match between an old boys’ team and the current First XI, which was revived last year, had to be abandoned. There was therefore little opportunity for OEs to enjoy their new refreshment tent. However, a good number did come along and savoured the attractions of the Friends of Queen Elizabeth’s Founder’s Day Fete, including the ever-popular international food tent. The Concert Band ignored the rain and played with considerable composure, demonstrating their musical abilities despite the conditions.

Lucian Grainge has achieved fresh success at the helm of the world’s biggest recording company, Universal Music.

Los Angeles-based Lucian (OE 1971-78) recently announced a partnership with rapper and music mogul JAY Z’s Roc Nation music label. The announcement came just a few weeks before JAY Z released his 12th studio album; it has gone straight to number one in the official UK album chart and has already broken US streaming records on Spotify, with 14 million plays.

Californian film-maker DreamWorks Animation, the company behind 27 films including the Shrek and Madagascar franchises, also revealed that it was nominating Lucian Grainge to join its board of directors.

Both announcements appear to underline his success as chairman and chief executive officer of Universal Music Group.

In a major interview with the Sunday Times, he was bullish about the prospects for EMI – owner of famous labels such as Capitol Records and Virgin – which was the subject of a controversial £1.2bn takeover by Universal. Concerned about a threat to competition, the European Commission forced Universal to sell a third of EMI.

He is due to bring together many of his British labels into a new company called Virgin EMI, while also launching a Capitol Records UK label. In addition, he plans to invest millions of pounds into signing unknown acts.

Speaking of his plans to revive EMI now that the takeover has been secured, he said: “I tried to get my first records recorded at EMI and I really want to make a difference to it. For me, this is a duty and a responsibility.”

Figures released during the spring show that the recorded music industry’s global revenue grew 0.3% to $16.5bn last year – the first increase for more than a decade, according to the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry. Revenue was boosted by growing sales from legal downloading and streaming of music.

He is correspondingly sanguine about Universal’s prospects: “We were the first to be disrupted by the internet and we will show that we are the first to power out. When you lift the carpet there is an extraordinary transformative explosion of new rights, new distribution, new content and new ways of acquiring and finding it.”

Lucian reputedly walked out of a history A-level examination at QE to cut his first record deal, although he still passed his A-levels. His interest in the business is said to have been fired in childhood, when he would observe which records customers selected in his father’s TV, radio and record shop.

He was awarded the CBE for services to the creative industries in the 2010 New Year’s Honours. Married with two children and a stepdaughter, he is known both for his formidable business ability and his disarming style. He remains a keen Arsenal supporter.

His brother, Justin (OE 1978-81), is understood still be to living in the family home in Finchley and is a photographer.

With the Summer Term now at its end, it may be instructive to reflect on the successes and challenges that the past months have brought.

The inclement weather on Founder’s Day was, of course, one such challenge, but the day was successful nonetheless, raising substantial sums for the Friends of Queen Elizabeth’s. We are always pleased to welcome OEs to Founder’s Day; I was happy to see a good number in attendance this year.

Our recent Junior Awards ceremony was another highlight, with old boy Akhil Shah, our Guest of Honour, providing a shining example to our younger boys. And the School chess team are to be congratulated on achieving second place in the final of the English Chess Federation National Schools’ Championship at Uppingham School. As far as I know, this is QE’s best-ever result at this prestigious competition.

I was encouraged to see Queen Elizabeth’s School named as London’s top boys’ state school in a Sunday Times feature on the capital’s schools. The School is eighth in the newspaper’s London-wide rankings, headed only by fee-paying schools and by the girls’ grammar, Henrietta Barnett. Nationally, QE currently stands in joint-11th place in the Sunday Times’ rankings of the best 700 secondary schools, rising from 17th place last year. In these national tables, it is again the leading boys’ state school. The tables are based on the percentage of top grades at both A-level and GCSE. For A-levels only, QE was joint-fourth overall nationally, outstripping all other state schools.

My attention was caught by press coverage of research by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. This emphasised how important it is that teenagers read; it found that reading for pleasure at the age of 15 is the most important indicator of the future success of the child. Our new library will greatly enhance our facilities in this regard. It will have capacity for 13,000 books – we will therefore be building up our collections – and will provide a commodious environment for reading and research. I am pleased to be able to report that recent progress on the Library and Dining Hall project has been good. We are now working on interior finishes and we expect the new facilities to be complete in the autumn.

Attention is now turning towards the next objectives in QE’s estates strategy. Foremost amongst these is replacement of the Fern Building’s roof, at an estimated cost of £800,000. More than £100,000 has been spent on repairs since the building’s completion in 1974, but leaks have persisted. The building has a good-quality steel frame, so installing a higher and better insulated roof, will allow it to be re-clad and re-configured internally at a later date, perhaps as a new location for the gym. After that, we hope to convert the Heard Building into a dedicated teaching block for English. And further into the future, areas of the site that we have identified for potential development include the Mayes Building.

It was also interesting to read recently of the concerns raised by Ofsted’s Sir Michael Wilshaw, Chief Inspector of Schools, regarding the failure of many non-selective state schools to nurture their brightest pupils, with the result that children at selective state schools are far more likely to win places at top universities than those who went to non-selective ones. Department for Education data shows that QE sends more pupils to Russell Group universities than any other state school, according to the most recent figures available.

A report by the Social Mobility and Child Poverty Commission found that the number of students from the most disadvantaged backgrounds gaining places at Russell Group universities has declined over the past decade. In contradistinction to this trend, I believe Queen Elizabeth’s School is demonstrably playing its part in furthering social mobility: our boys come from a wide variety of social and ethnic backgrounds, and the School is strictly a meritocracy, with boys making progress here solely on the basis of their ability and application. Some 95% of QE Year 13 leavers went to Russell Group universities in 2012. We do all we can to ensure our pupils gain places at the leading universities. This year, for example, we have a new initiative, giving our Year 12 boys considering applications to Oxford or Cambridge, or to read Medicine, formal mock interview experience with OEs and other friends of the School who are experts in their field. Locations for these practice interviews include the Institute of Directors on Pall Mall, the Houses of Parliament and the adjoining Portcullis House. I am most grateful to all those who have given up their time to help with this initiative.

We are not, however, complacent. Last year, we set out our School Priorities for Development 2012-2016. We have since made very good progress. One emerging priority for the forthcoming academic year is making a start on greater differentiation of the curriculum and its delivery. While all QE boys will continue to aspire to similarly high levels of achievement, we will work on developing strategies to suit their varying needs, including adapting our teaching styles as necessary. We believe we already do that, but we would like to do it even better.

I wish all our alumni and their families a pleasant summer.

Neil Enright

After making his mark at QE, Akhil Shah, this year’s Guest of Honour at the School’s Junior Awards, has gone on to a glittering record of academic achievement.

Akhil (OE2002-09) gained a Double First in Economics from Selwyn College, Cambridge, in 2012 and was awarded the Patrick Cross Prize by the college for exceptional achievement in the Economics Tripos. In 2011, he won the PricewaterhouseCoopers Prize in Economics for best overall performance in Part 2A of the Tripos.

At QE, he secured 13 A* GCSEs, four A-levels at grade A (the highest grade available at that time) and a distinction in the Advanced Extension Award in Economics. He remembers his time there with gratitude: “I certainly have Mr Price’s A-level Maths lessons to thank for my Double First.” Alongside his studies he won a gold certificate in the Senior UKMT Maths Challenge and participated in the British Mathematical Olympiad. Akhil also passed Grade 6 Acting with Distinction and Grade 7 Violin.

Since going to university, he has played tennis and rowed, as well as raising £25,000 in a telephone fundraising campaign for the college.

Akhil started work last September at the Royal Bank of Scotland in Corporate & Institutional Banking on an 18-month graduate programme.  “I do hope to use the skills and experience I pick up along the way to make some sort of difference in the world,” Akhil says.

Akhil addressed prize-winners from Years 7-9 and their parents at the Junior Awards Ceremony. VIP guests included: the Mayor of Barnet, Councillor Melvin Cohen; Martin Russell, Deputy Lieutenant for the Borough of Barnet, and the Chairman of Governors, Barrie Martin (pictured with Akhil).

He identified three key ingredients for success and achievement: “I believe the first thing is to have a vision, the second is to work hard for it, and the last, and possibly the most challenging part, is to persevere through difficulties.”

Akhil told the boys that at their age, having a vision did not require a long-term plan: “When I was in your position I was thinking about which subjects I should study for GCSE which, despite Mr Enright’s best efforts, did not include Geography!”

He explained how a desire to study Economics at university led him to pick his A-levels and also to read widely around the subject to see how the subject related to real life. Prompted by a growing interest in Finance, he sought an internship with RBS before his final year of study at Cambridge. “Having a plan helped to focus my endeavours and actually made life a lot easier,” he said.

He alluded to Andy Murray’s long journey to ultimate success in winning the Wimbledon Men’s Singles Championship supported by his family and friends. “I think sticking with it when things get tough is the hardest thing to do. It can be hard to let go of your pride and ask someone else for help. However, make sure you let your family, your friends and your teachers support you as you face challenges, because you can’t do it alone.”

He concluded by saying: “Don’t worry if you’re not the best or don’t get 100%; regardless of your grades, it will be your attitude that differentiates you. So just have that vision and work diligently, with perseverance and with modesty, and you really can achieve something incredible.”

Old Elizabethan Dr Malcolm Sabin (1952-59) has been awarded a gold medal at the Royal Society in recognition of his life’s work and contribution to Mathematics.

During the ceremony to bestow on him the Institute of Mathematics and its Applications (IMA) medal, he presented a lecture called The Mathematics of Shape. A few days before, Dr Sabin CMath FIMA delivered a talk on the same topic to Year 10 boys at the School.

Presenting the award on behalf of the IMA, Dr Neil Dodgson said: “Malcolm Sabin pioneered research in computer-aided design (CAD). His principal contributions have been interrogation methods for parametric surfaces, scattered data contouring, transfinite surfaces defined by curves, and subdivision analysis. Two constructions bear his name, Powell-Sabin splines and Doo-Sabin subdivision, but perhaps his greatest legacy is the number of people who would acknowledge that their research critically benefited from his input.”

Dr Sabin graduated from the University of Cambridge with a first-class honours degree in the Mechanical Sciences Tripos. He has been a Candidate of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences since 1977 and was awarded a PhD from Leeds University in 1998.

In addition to the IMA gold medal he has also received the Bézier Award and the John Gregory Award, both in 2010.

He combined his Cambridge studies with an apprenticeship at the British Aircraft Corporation, then worked for BAe for 10 years before taking up a number of positions as visiting lecturer in Hungary, Austria and the UK. Since the late 1970s he has concentrated on research and teaching, pioneering CAD.

A Chartered Mathematician, he has published extensively on mathematical topics. He has at various times held the following positions: Chairman of BCS CAD Specialist group; a member of the International Federation for Information Processing (IFIP) Working Group 5.2 (CAD); the UK delegate to IFIP Technical Committee 5 (Information Technology Applications) and Secretary of the UK Geometric Modelling Society.

During his lecture to the Royal Society he talked about how people working together in making things have needed ways of describing shape to each other so that their pieces will fit together.

“Today, because the stylist has computer graphics visualisation for making sure that the product looks good, the designer has computational analysis and simulation for making sure that it will work and the production engineer has numerically controlled machines for actually making the parts or moulds, we need ways of describing shape which their various pieces of software can interpret. This means formal digital descriptions of shape, which in turn demands mathematical foundations.”

QE Mathematics teacher Wendy Fung said his visit to the School had been very illuminating: “He explained how shape description using Maths enables designers, engineers and mechanics to communicate during a project, ensuring that separate component parts will fit together to make a whole. He gave Pixar as an example of a company that makes use of the work he does with CAD, offering boys a fascinating insight into how Maths is relevant outside the classroom.”

Old Elizabethans were much in evidence at the wedding of Mustali Sarkar (2000-07).

Mustali graduated from Imperial College with a Master’s degree in Mechanical Engineering in 2011. Since then, he has been working at ExxonMobil in its Gas & Power Marketing Division. He has held roles in the Business Planning & Analytics team and is currently in the Supply & Trading team, helping to provide 6% of Europe’s total natural gas demand.

His wife, Ummehani, graduated from the University of Nottingham in 2012 with a Master’s degree in Pharmacy. She undertook her pharmacist pre-registration training at Frimley Park Hospital, Surrey, and is now working as a community relief pharmacist at Boots. The couple are living in the Surrey area.

Pictured with the happy couple are (front row, left to right) Priyesh Patel and Sanil Shah, and (back row, left to right) Samir Patel, Khilan Shah, Utsav Patel, Devan Mistry, Kishan Gangadia, Roheet Pindoria and Ceyon Jeyarajah. All were Mustali’s contemporaries at QE.

It has been a busy 12 months for the Sarkar family: Mustali’s brother, Mustafa, got married last December. His wife, Tasnim, is originally from Mumbai and is a qualified speech therapist.

Since graduating from Loughborough University in 2008, Mustafa (1996-2004) completed a Post-Graduate Diploma in Psychology from Middlesex University and then returned to Loughborough to complete a MSc Psychology of Sport and Exercise programme, gaining several awards along the way.

Christopher Mason’s recent wedding became a reunion for his School contemporaries from the late 1980s and early 1990s, with OEs prominent among the bridal party and guests.

Chris (OE 1987-94) and his brother Andrew (OE 1985-92) got engaged within weeks of each other, with Andrew marrying Kay in north Devon, followed last month by Chris’s wedding to Sharon. Pictured here are (left to right) best man James Davidson (OE 1987-94), groom Chris and bride Sharon, usher Tim Barlow (OE 1987-94) and friend Mark Flack. Other OE guests included Daniel Davidson, Matthew Shamshoon, Alex O’Donoghue, Matt Thomas, Robin Evans, Robert Davidson and Richard Burr.

Whilst at the School, both Chris and Andrew were very involved in music and Chris also excelled in sport. He was a member of the water polo and swimming teams and represented England at the European Youth Games.

Chris and Sharon Mason (née Smith) live in London. He is a finance officer working in an independent sixth form college. Andrew and Kay live in north Devon.

Many alumni will also know the Mason boys’ parents, Diane and George, who have been stalwart supporters of the School since the mid-1980s.

Diane Mason used to be the School’s extra-curricular tennis coach as well as the Friends of Queen Elizabeth’s liaison and administrative assistant. Today she is the FQE secretary. George has invigilated at the School. He organises the questions on Quiz Night and generally supports FQE. They are pictured with the bride and groom.