Viewing archives for Alumni Newsletter

Medics and QE contemporaries Kavi Samra and Paul Jung (OE 2008–2015) are working with the School to trial their education app, Medly AI.

The app aims to harness AI to help students from backgrounds like theirs who may not have access to all the educational resources available to others. They only started working on the business in August, yet already it has won funding and been accepted into Microsoft’s start-up programme.

“We’ve always wanted to try to democratise education,” says Kavi. “Medly AI was born from the vision of making quality education accessible and personalised through the power of AI. Both Paul and I noticed throughout our education how people often had advantages from their socio-economic background in terms of educational resources (e.g personal tuition): both of us come from backgrounds that didn’t allow us access to these resources. Recognising the gaps in traditional educational systems due to work pressures on teachers and staffing issues, we saw the potential of AI to fill these gaps and therefore conceptualised a platform that could act as a personal tutor, examiner, and classroom assistant, all integrated into one user-friendly interface.”

After just two months of development, Microsoft admitted Medly AI to its programme, providing Kavi and Paul with mentoring from a business development manager and meeting the costs of the platform up to £150,000. A month later, the project was also accepted into UCL’s Hatchery start-up accelerator, enabling its professional fees for legal, IP and accounting costs to be funded.

Both Paul and Kavi have deep connections with UCL. Paul holds a PhD in Neuropsychiatry from the university and has an extensive background in coding and teaching. He included AI in his research, on which he has published and given international presentations. He has returned to his medical degree at UCL and is in his final year, completing his MBBS in August. Kavi, who currently works as a doctor in anaesthetics, completed his medical degree at UCL in 2021 and is a clinical teacher within its medical school: his approaches to using teaching theory in a digital age earned him an Associate Fellowship of Higher Education Award from UCL and he is also one of the youngest recipients of an honorary fellow contract at UCL.

Paul is responsible for writing code and working on the technical side of the project, while Kavi takes on operations.

After they approached the School about trialling the app with QE students, they recently had a meeting with Headmaster Neil Enright and with Gillian Ridge and Amy Irvine, Heads of Biology and Chemistry respectively. “We demo’d the platform to both Gillian and Amy, introducing our teacher mode,” says Kavi. “This is where teachers are able to set questions (from a large database, or their own custom questions) to their respective classes for homework, or in a test format.”

Medley AI can then:

• Understand the questions
• Work out how they fit into the curriculum of the subject
• Assign them to a specification point
• Mark the students’ answers.

“From here, the teacher can get in-depth statistical insights into each student’s weak topics, topic by topic and class by class. This then enables them to customise their classroom teaching according to class-wide weak topics and, of course, saves an incredible amount of time in terms of marking student work.

“Both Dr Irvine and Dr Ridge seemed quite impressed and were eager to start using Medly as a resource to save time and understand where their students don’t perform well. We have completed the onboarding for the Year 11 group and look forward to working with the Science department in the New Year,” Kavi adds. “This will involve teachers setting homeworks on the platform and providing feedback on what they’d like to see in our teacher mode to help us improve the platform. The students will, of course, have access to our base platform, too, in case they wish to do additional learning or practise questions or exams.”

Mr Enright said: “We are very pleased to be working with Kavi and Paul as they develop this exciting venture that is showing great potential to support our boys, and other young people, with their consolidation and revision.”

Sam Colman (OE 1998-2005) is today a Global Key Account Manager for Boortmalt – the world’s second-largest malting business, supplying brewers and distillers of all sizes.

He combines globe-trotting on business with time spent with his young family in beautiful rural Suffolk. Yet, he says, without QE, “I would not have the skills or education to have the life I currently live. I received the invitation for the 450 Club and wanted to give something back.”

In fact, his early years at the School – from the age of 12 to 15 – were not altogether plain-sailing. “I famously did not attend a single RS class for GCSE (something that slipped through the disciplinary net) and never completed any History homework during Year 9. This meant that I was well versed in the School’s detention policy: however, I was never suspended. When I was 15, I had a conversation with Nick (‘The Sheriff’) Oulton and Tim Bennett who imparted some great advice, advising me that if I concentrated my efforts in actually doing the work rather than finding ways of not getting caught for not doing it, I would have an easier life.”

Current Headmaster Neil Enright joined the School when he was past this difficult time. “He is where I learnt the art of negotiation, convincing him to predict me an A in geography rather than the B he initially suggested – to this day one of my proudest achievements.” Sam went on to read Geography at Manchester.

After taking a year out to teach quad-biking and climbing at PGL, he took up a position with British Sugar in 2012, before joining Boortmalt as Commercial Manager UK (Brewing) in 2017 and rising through the ranks.

He has long been a keen supporter of the School. “I try to attend at least one event each year, ideally a careers event. I like to show the current pupils that there is more to life than corporate finance, medicine, law and engineering. I have a background in sales and now report directly to the board for a global company: it’s hard work and fun.”

Boortmalt has 27 malting locations worldwide, with a total production of 3 million tonnes of malt – a key ingredient in both beer and whisky. “We supply brewers and distillers from the big global [players] to local and craft scales. I am responsible for the global account management for several of the world’s largest brewers, in addition to local responsibility in the UK and North America. Roughly 50% of my time is spent travelling, either meeting with customers, or visiting our production sites, or Antwerp HQ. In the past 18 months I have visited: Belgium, France, Spain, Germany, The Netherlands, Ireland, Scotland, Switzerland, Vietnam, Canada, USA and Australia for work.

“I really like the variety within my job: I can be negotiating contracts, working on projects (sustainable barley etc.), or working with internal teams on new customer solutions, for example. I was part of a team that completed one of the first bulk shipments of malt from Australia to the Americas during COVID.

“I fit all my work travel around family commitments. My wife and I have two young children, aged 2 and 4.”

Sam lives near Bury St Edmunds (“not far from Eric Houston’s holiday destination”). He still plays football regularly and he is on the community council as a trustee for a centre shared by four villages.

The Forty Society’s autumn lunch saw a record turn-out for recent years. Guest speaker Matthew Rose (OE 2002–2009) said: “It was, I understand, a particularly high turn-out, and, happily, I was there to see it!”

The society, which is open to alumni who left the School at least 40 years ago, has gained an influx of new attendees over the past year to 18 months.

The lunches are held in the clubhouse at Gypsy Corner – the Old Elizabethans Memorial Playing Fields – and, in fact, many members have strong connections to the location, belonging to (or having previously belonged to) the cricket club or rugby club (although the latter has now moved).

Matthew is Head of External Relations, Executive Assistant to the Headmaster, and Clerk to the Governing Body. “It was a good-humoured and lively atmosphere, with old friends enjoying each other’s company very much the point of the gathering,” he said. “I talked about the School’s 450th anniversary year, some of the different projects that had been undertaken and my role within them – hopefully giving a mildly entertaining insight. Alongside this, I encouraged them to remain connected, or re-connect, with the School, and explained that they are always welcome.”

The society is part of the Old Elizabethans Association, though it has its own committee – with much effort put in by Peter ‘Scotty’ Yates (OE 1967–1974) and Mike Harrison (OE 1953-1961), to name a couple. OE President Eric Houston was the MC at the lunch.

“It was good fun to meet OEs new to me and to see friendships flourishing – the Society celebrates the importance of these relationships and the connection many have to the sports clubs within the OE family,” Matthew added. “As I said at the end, I look forward to returning on my qualification for the society in the autumn of 2049!” After the lunch, many repaired to the Black Horse pub, where the photo was taken.

Hugely influential OEs Mustafa Suleyman and Demis Hassabis have both spoken of their grave concerns about the risk to humanity posed by AI.

The pair were among the three co-founders of leading AI company DeepMind, formed in 2010. Mustafa (OE 1995–2002) now leads Inflection AI, a California-based ‘public benefit corporation’ that he founded last year, while Demis (OE 1988–1990), remains chief executive at DeepMind, which was acquired by Google in 2014.

In his new book, The Coming Wave: Technology, Power and the 21^st Century’s Greatest Dilemma, Mustafa argues that in the coming decade powerful new technologies will create immense prosperity, but also threaten the nation-state, the foundation of global order.

During an episode of The Rest is Politics: Leading – a podcast hosted by Alastair Campbell and Rory Stewart – Mustafa spoken about his book, which calls for the “containment” of the new technology with a ten-step plan. He also found time to remember to credit his alma mater: “Attending Queen Elizabeth’s School, Barnet, changed my life.”

For his part, Demis spoke to the Guardian ahead of a recent summit on AI safety hosted by the UK Government. He said the world must treat the risks from AI as seriously as climate change and take immediate action to combat them. International efforts to oversee the industry could start with a body similar to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, he suggested.

Demis has long been an influential voice on AI. Through a recent New York Times interview, it emerged that he had left Elon Musk “speechless” in 2012 by pointing out a flaw in Musk’s plans to colonise Mars – the risk that if AI were to surpass human intelligence, it could follow humanity to the red planet and pose a threat there as well.

In the same interview, he related how he had impressed veteran Silicon Valley investor Peter Thiel with his knowledge of chess to win funding for DeepMind. It was the first time Thiel had ever invested outside the US. “He felt the power of Silicon Valley was sort of mythical, that you couldn’t create a successful big technology company anywhere else,” Demis told the interviewer. “Eventually we convinced him that there were good reasons to be in London.”

OE benefactor Tony Sherrard (1952-1959) enjoyed the chance to see the fruits of his generosity only a few months after making his substantial donation to the School. His gift was put towards work to completely refurbish two Chemistry laboratories in the Fern Building.

The project went ahead this summer after The Wolfson Foundation (an educational charity) provided its maximum £100,000 grant in January in response to FQE committing significant funds towards the £230K overall cost.

For his part, Tony decided to make his own substantial donation after reading the Headmaster’s article about the project in the Old Elizabethans Association magazine. Tony retired in 1997 after an illustrious career in the chemical and pharmaceuticals industries, so an investment in chemistry facilities was close to his heart.

Accordingly, he brought forward the donation he had planned to make in his will so that the current generation of boys could immediately benefit.

During his visit to the School this term, he called in on lessons in the labs, including a Year 13 practical, speaking to the boys and to Head of Chemistry Amy Irvine. Afterwards, Tony said how pleased he was to see so many taking A-level sciences, and Chemistry in particular.

Tony keeps in touch with a number of fellow OEs and attends the Forty Society lunches. He now lives in Buckinghamshire.

In his own words: Tony Sherrard

I was born in September 1941 and attended Merryhills Primary school, located between Oakwood and Enfield.

Starting in Eric Shearly’s Form 1C, one of the first group of pupils that benefitted from the three-form entry, I was among the youngest (not yet 11 years of age on entry) and one of the few ‘out-of-county’ pupils, too. Despite winning the form prize in the second year (Form 2C), achieving upper quartile marks in later years, my A-level marks were disappointingly ordinary. Being only 16, I stayed on in the seventh form, but the exam results in 1959 showed little improvement, although the benefit of this extra year was evident at university.

I enjoyed sporting and outdoor activities, and although slightly built and short, I played for the Third XV and Third XI on the rugby field and cricket pitches respectively. I continued to play rugby for: the OEs (occasionally in the university holidays); Mumbles RFC, a feeder Club for Swansea; and Furness RFC in Barrow-in-Furness.

During my QE years, I was involved with the gym club’s presentation at the hobbies exhibition, played chess, collected stamps and developed an interest in photography. School and Scouting supported my interest in photography and rambling/fell-walking respectively, both of which remain an interest to this day.

Following external careers advice, I chose to study Chemical Engineering at the University College of Swansea, that benefitted from project work in the local heavy industries, securing a B.Sc degree and an opportunity to pursue a doctorate on techniques used in the oil and pharmaceutical industries. So, in 1965 I completed my PhD and took a job with Glaxo Laboratories at its factory on the southern coast of the Lake District. This factory was a Primary Production unit, manufacturing bulk active ingredients for prescription medicines, including antibiotics and fine chemicals. It provided excellent experience, which involved optimising and troubleshooting the various processes and equipment, designing new chemical processes, and developing solvent recovery systems. In the first ten years at Glaxo, I also managed an antibiotic extraction plant in County Durham and was part of a commissioning team at a new factory near Newcastle.

In preparation for a senior role in a new factory in SW Scotland, I spent time gaining more experience of operating fine chemicals plant in eastern Scotland. So, I became Factory Manager of the small new factory during the completion of construction, the commissioning and the initial production phases in 1977-81. From there, I was appointed Production & Technical Director in Glaxo Australia, responsible for three factories in Tasmania and Victoria – two small ones manufacturing opiates and the other in Melbourne producing prescription medicines predominantly for the Australian market. My contract ran out after three-and-a-half years and I returned to the large UK factory in South Cumbria. Here, initially, I had responsibility for the chemical processes, with the output dominated by antibiotics; later I was promoted to Factory Manager, responsible for the 24/7 day-to-day operations and for developing long-term plans for the factory within the framework of the Glaxo Group’s available Primary Production facilities. After five years (1989-94) in this demanding role, and having spent approximately 20 years working on the edge of Lake District, I moved to a head office role. Here, I became involved in developing the manufacturing strategy for bulk actives ingredients following the merger of Glaxo and Wellcome. With inevitable duplication of skills in the merger, I decided to take redundancy/early retirement at the end of 1997, after more than 32 years in manufacturing for Glaxo, and, latterly, Glaxo-Wellcome.

Shirley and I married more than 50 years ago, and she was a great support  as we moved with my career. We have one daughter who also pursued a career in chemical engineering (working for BP for eighteen years and now teaching Physics to A-level,) and one granddaughter. Golf, travel, and charity work within the Rotary umbrella have been key activities in retirement, although health issues have restricted these in the last few years.

Dr Anthony John Sherrard  C Eng, MIChemE

3D printing entrepreneur Arian Aghababaie, co-founder of California-based Holo, shared insights into the latest developments in additive manufacturing and gave advice on engineering careers when he led two inspirational events at QE during a visit to the UK.

After working for global software firm Autodesk, based in San Francisco, Arian (OE 1998–2003) raised venture capital and successfully spun out its additive manufacturing team to form Holo, while also transitioning its technology from the 3D printing of polymers to metals. Six-and-a-half years later, Holo is at the forefront of innovation, using its proprietary digital platform to enable the manufacturing at scale of high-performance parts across a range of materials, including metals, ceramics and composites. Holo is supported by top-tier Silicon Valley investors and strategic partners.

Arian’s morning at QE began with a tour of the School, before he led a Sixth Form additive manufacturing workshop, with five of QE’s own 3D printers on hand. Later, he delivered a lunchtime talk, giving his take on careers in engineering and 3D printing.

Head of Technology Michael Noonan said: “Arian provided Year 12 with a workshop which firstly covered his professional journey to date, from his early days post PhD working on founding his own company (The Invention Works) through to his position as Senior Principal Engineer at Autodesk. Most of the workshop, however, focussed on his current company, Holo. He explained that he and the other co-founders could see the enormous potential to create a viable business in this area and so pursued it as an opportunity.”

Arian went on to explain the details around the scale of production, the materials used and the fidelity of the products which Holo’s machines can make through its own PureForm Technology.

“His technologies have a unique advantage over competitors, and he works with many major companies in the healthcare, consumer electronics, robotics, and automotive sectors, to name a few,” said Mr Noonan.

He even set the Year 12 boys a challenge to develop a product using QE’s own 3D printers. They should design (and perhaps build) a scaled-up, minimally invasive surgical instrument. His requirements were that:

• The instrument should have six degrees of freedom
• It should be able to be cable or gear-driven
• The boys’ work should include the design of at least two custom end-effectors (the devices at the end of a robotic arm, designed to interact with the environment)
• They should determine its size and features based on the capabilities of their own printers.

Bonus points were offered for the designs with the fewest components and if the end-effectors could be easily changed within the same clevis pin (part of a fastener system)!

Two examples of the boys’ work in response to the challenge are shown here.

In the lunchtime talk to Year 10, Arian took a more personal look at his story, beginning with his time at QE, when he was in Stapylton House and was a musician and prefect.

After first presenting a version of his life which had him gliding seamlessly from his first engineering degree at Bristol to gaining his doctorate, also at Bristol, moving to San Francisco in 2016 and then founding Holo the following year, he next spoke about “what it’s actually been like” – a narrative that includes leaving QE early, dropping out of university, the financial crash and the huge impact of Covid.

The lessons he learned included “stay true to your authentic self” and “don’t fear failure”.

The visit came about after Headmaster Neil Enright struck up a conversation with Arian on LinkedIn.

Mr Noonan said: “It really was a tremendous day. One of the boys involved said to me afterwards: ‘Sir, are you aware that Arian is working in the job we all dream to have one day?’ I am immensely grateful to Arian for taking the time to give back to his School and for giving our students something amazing to aspire to.”

Aadil Kara (OE 2010–2017), himself a veteran of an international space design competition, was one of the judges when QE hosted its own Galactic Challenge.

His QE contemporaries, Sam Bayney and Harikesan Baskaran, were also among those helping out on the day.

Competing in the challenge were two home teams and two visiting from The Henrietta Barnett School, which each formed a fictional aerospace company. They produced proposals for an Earth–Mars cycler settlement – a proposed future orbiting hotel which would ferry 1,000 people to and from Mars following a ‘cycler’ trajectory that regularly intersects the orbits of the two planets.

Galactic Challenge, which is for students aged 10-14, is the sister competition of the UK Space Design Competition (UKSDC), which is for those aged 15–18. Aadil has for several years supported both competitions and is a member of the UKSDC board. A Senior Analyst with the Cabinet Office, he graduated with a first in Physics from Imperial College London.

Aadil, Sam and Harikesan were all part of a QE Sixth Form team that won the regional heat of the UK’s Space Design Competition and went on to the 2017 national finals, where Aadil was selected to take part in the International Space Settlement Design Competition in Florida.

In addition to Aadil, the competition was judged by staff from the Space Science & Engineering Foundation, as well as QE Head of Physics Jonathan Brooke, and Dr Flore Faille, Head of Physics at HBS.

Mr Brooke said: “The boys presented with great skill and confidence.”

Once all the competition was done, however, final victory went to Columbus Aviation, one of the HBS teams.

Alan Solomon accompanied film producer Ilana Metzger to the School for the first-ever screening to under-18s of her documentary about her father, a Holocaust survivor who once attempted to assassinate Adolf Hitler.

The film, Breathe Deeply My Son, was shown to Year 9, with a question-and-answer session afterwards.

Alan (OE 1951–1957) suggested the screening to the Headmaster after being impressed by the way it told the story of Ilana Metzger’s father, Henry Wermuth, and also looked more widely at the Holocaust and its origins.

In the film, Mr Wermuth, who died in 2020 at the age of 97, explains how in 1942 he broke out of Klaj ammunition camp in Poland when he learned that Hitler was scheduled to pass through the village. He piled the railway track with sticks and rocks, but the attempted derailment was unsuccessful. He told The Jewish Chronicle in 2013: “A train passed with three wagons, and in the window was a man who I recognised by the moustache as Hitler. I stood there mesmerised, waiting for the crash, but it never came. Either a local farmer or someone patrolling must have removed the logs.”

Mr Wermuth survived the war weighing just 5st 3lb (33kg). His father, mother and sister all died in concentration camps.

He was awarded a medal for his attempt by the German city of Frankfurt in 1995. After liberation, he settled in the UK and built a property business in London.

After her visit, Ilana, pictured here with her late father, wrote to the Headmaster, praising the boys’ “interesting and insightful questions”.

In fact, she was so impressed with their maturity that she is donating 30 copies of her father’s autobiography – gifted to her by an anonymous viewer of the film – to the School.

Headmaster Neil Enright has paid tribute to Old Elizabethan and former Vice-Chairman of Governors Ken Cooper, who served QE over several decades in senior roles. Ken died earlier this month, a few days after his 92^nd birthday.

“What an incredible servant of the School community! He distinguished himself first as a pupil, becoming School Captain in 1949, and subsequently in an illustrious professional career. We all have reason to be grateful that he then gave loyal service to our School throughout his long retirement, when he was variously president of the OE Association, a foundation trustee and a Vice-Chair of Governors at a period of rapid development and considerable change at QE.”

“There are few who have made such a broad and sustained contribution to Queen Elizabeth’s School,” said Mr Enright.

Ken arrived at QE in the depths of World War II and quickly made his mark. Excelling in his studies, Ken was equally successful as captain of the First XV. He starred in School plays and the Elizabethan Union owes its identity to him: Ken re-branded the debating society of his day to give it the name by which it is still known.

His Headmaster, the redoubtable Ernest Jenkins, was typically shrewd in his judgment of Ken in his School record card, yet also uncharacteristically fulsome in his praise: “An outstanding fellow…A fine School Captain, class forward, good actor and debater…who may go far.”

After graduating from New College, Oxford, he embarked on a career of public service, with senior posts in the Ministry of Labour, The Treasury and the Department of Employment. Later, he was: chief executive of the Employment Service Agency (1971-1975) and of the Training Services Agency (1975-1979); director general of the Building Employers Confederation (1979-1984) and chief executive of The British Library from 1984 until his retirement in 1991.

Ken, who continued to live in New Barnet, then deployed his talents in the service of QE’s Governing Body, Endowment Fund and the Old Elizabethans’ Association.

“He combined an ability to cut through issues and find a way forward with a warm and encouraging nature that made him an inspiring leader who contributed enormously to the health and strength of the School,” said Mr Enright.

Married to Olga, he had four children. Even in the immediate aftermath of Olga’s passing last year, he continued actively to support the School, keeping an appointment to visit QE so that he could be interviewed by a number of the boys.

Speaking at this week’s funeral for Ken, Mr Enright concluded his address with these words: “Ken was a pillar of our community as a pupil and again in his retirement. He will be fondly remembered and sorely missed. He was truly an Elizabethan for life.”

Medical entrepreneur and orthopaedic surgeon Ash Kalraiya has been in touch with a wonderful story of how the alumni network helped him secure investment from fellow OE Saav Shah’s firm – even though at QE their paths had never crossed.

Ash (OE 1997-2004), the 2003 School Captain, is the founder of MediShout, a London-based company that brings together medical suppliers and help desks. Using just the ‘one stop shop’ app, hospitals can tackle an array of tasks, from reporting broken equipment and requesting IT support, to managing stock levels, resolving estates & facilities problems and contacting equipment suppliers.

Ash takes up the tale: “A couple of years ago, QE did an online article about me which got spotted by Saav Shah. We connected due to the article and stayed in touch, and, a few months ago, his fund was the lead investor in our seed round. This wouldn’t have happened without QE’s article, so thank you so much!”

MediShout’s seed round, which raised £4.3m, was led by Nickleby Capital, where Saav (OE 1999–2006), who was two years below Ash at QE, is Managing Partner.

“As a venture investor I believe I am investing in people over anything else,” he explains. “I had never met Ash prior to seeing the article, but knowing what it takes to be a School Captain at QE, I was keen to find out more about Medishout. I would argue the key attributes needed in building a company are very similar to that of what QE looks for in head boys – leaders, academic, public speakers etc. I believe QE has such a powerful alumni network if utilised correctly!”

Both are keen to maintain links with the School. Saav has two young sons: he has already set his sights on their becoming QE boys in years to come. Ash and his brother, Anish (OE 1990–1997) and friends are all planning to come to this year’s Old Elizabethans’ Dinner.