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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

Year 8 pupil’s Aaryan Prabhaker’s entry in a climate art competition run by Imperial College London has been transformed into a mural on display close to the revamped Battersea Power Station.

Colours for the Climate, Aaryan’s design for the Grantham Climate Art Prize competition, calls on people to reduce their meat and dairy intake, and to eat more plant-based foods.

This year’s COP28, the 28^th annual UN climate meeting currently taking place in Dubai, has a focus on food and agriculture, amid considerable debate about the role of the livestock industry in producing greenhouse gases.

Aaryan’s is the second major QE success in the competition: Year 9 pupil Kelvin Chen, a runner-up in the 11-14 age category, saw his artwork showcased on billboards in London last month in the lead-up to COP28.

Head of Art Craig Wheatley said: “My congratulations go to Aaryan on making the most of the opportunity to enter the competition and on producing such a strong piece of work. After first impressing the judges, his artwork, with its strong message, is now grabbing attention from thousands on the streets of the capital.”

The boys were encouraged to enter the biennial competition by Art teacher Jeanne Nicodemus. Imperial’s Grantham Institute, which is a research centre for climate change and the environment, challenged entrants aged 11-25 to create bold designs for outdoor public murals focused on the solutions needed to tackle the climate crisis.

Competition entrants were asked to seek inspiration from the institute’s Nine things you can do about climate change list: number 2 on the list is ‘eat less meat and dairy’. The competition attracted more than 1,000 entries.

Aaryan’s design in the 11-14 age group was highly commended and was selected to be a mural at Pump House Lane, Nine Elms, where there is an exhibition of the artwork of the competition winners and runners-up. With Octopus Energy sponsoring the main competition, the Grantham Institute secured separate funding for this project from property developer Ballymore.

Aaryan’s artwork, which features a range of fruit and vegetables, was painted as a mural by artists Karla Rosales Garcia and Roger Rigol.

He and his parents, Amieya Prabhaker and Shalini Varma, attended an unveiling of the mural, where they met the sponsors as well as representatives of the competition organisers.

In a note to the School, Mr Prabhaker and Dr Varma said: “We would like to express our thanks to the teachers at QE, especially Ms Nicodemus and Mr Wheatley, who have inspired the creativity amongst the boys and guided them at each step.”

• Click on the thumbnail images below to see Aaryan’s artwork displayed in full.

The Winter Concert brought entertainment across an array of genres with just one common factor – the high degree of musicianship on display.

The Shearly Hall was packed to the rafters and saw hundreds of boys participating in 15 different ensembles, watched by parents and other family members, staff, friends of the School and VIP guests.

Alongside the customary presentation of Junior and Senior Music Colours, Headmaster Neil Enright presented the Music department’s new Music Bars – normally to be given to boys who have already achieved colours, but have continued to excel.

Mr Enright said: “Our Winter Concert was aptly named – some families had to de-ice their cars before heading home afterwards – but was held in a very warm atmosphere and was a great success.

“There was super music, supported by excellent production from our sound, lighting and stage crews, both pupils and the professionals from School Stage. These concerts are a big team effort – the culmination of much hard work from the boys and the Music department, but also other parts of the Elizabethan community, such as: the site team; parent volunteers from The Friends of Queen Elizabeth’s providing hospitality, and our pupil volunteers – my thanks go to them all.

“There really were no weak links musically, although the Indian Ensemble stood out, with excellent vocal performances from Year 7’s Param Jani in their opening piece and Rishi Watsalya in their second.

“The evening was balanced with dynamic numbers: the Senior Winds’ playing of Stephenson’s Rocket (conducted by current University of Connecticut intern Mason Armstrong) and the School Orchestra’s Beethoven in the first half, and the two Guns N’ Roses pieces in the second – Sweet Child o’ Mine from the Electric Guitar Ensemble and the Jazz Band’s rendition of Welcome to the Jungle.”

The concert was attended by the Worshipful The Mayor of the London Borough of Barnet, Councillor Nagus Narenthira – who, Mr Enright said, has been a great supporter of the School, as Deputy Mayor and now as the borough’s 58th Mayor.

The Music colours went to boys who have shown outstanding commitment to music at QE and displayed musical excellence.

The presentation of the bars was to two sixth-formers:

• Jason Tao, of Year 12: his citation praised his leadership and his being a superb role model for younger students;
• Indrajit Datta, of Year 13, who, exceptionally, received his Senior Colours and bar at the same time, in view of his recent sterling efforts on the Music technology side of the Music department’s work. He is currently in the midst of producing a recording of the School’s specially commissioned 450^th anniversary anthem, And Be It Known.

“The way in which the boys so enthusiastically cheered the recognition of their peers through the colours and bars presentations was heart-warming – evidence of the genuine support they give one another,” Mr Enright said.

• Click on the thumbnail images below to scroll through photos from the concert.

Queen Elizabeth’s School has further cemented its reputation for achieving the very highest levels of academic performance, taking second place in the annual Sunday Times Parent Power league table.

QE has now taken first or second place in the survey every year for well over a decade. The table is based on A-level and GCSE results.

The survey is separate from the Sunday Times Schools Guide’s State Secondary School of the Year title, which is judged using broader criteria. QE won that in 2001, 2007 and 2022.

Headmaster Neil Enright said: “We have consistently been in one of the top two spots in the Parent Power table for so long that the remarkable is for us now unremarkable!

“Nevertheless, this is still by any measure a considerable achievement, for which my congratulations go to all my colleagues and to our families.

“In fact, this success is yet another accolade to add to our list of memorable highlights in this, our 450^th anniversary year. Those highlights include new academic records, such as the 47 Oxbridge places offered to our boys and 58.2 per cent of A-levels taken here in 2023 being offered A*.

“There was also: our royal visit from HRH The Duke of Gloucester; our thanksgiving service in Westminster Abbey, attended by the whole School; and a very special Founder’s Day.

“Moreover, the year has been punctuated by splendid concerts, sporting triumphs, impressive drama productions and competition successes – all attesting that the QE experience extends well beyond examination results.”

In the article accompanying the survey, Times journalists Sian Griffiths and Helen Davies stated: “This is the first time that performance in this summer’s A-levels and GCSEs has returned to pre-pandemic grade boundaries in England and many of the schools that triumphed this year were also those that managed to keep high-quality teaching going online during the pandemic.”

They noted, firstly, that single-sex schools once again lead the table, and, secondly, that London dominates in terms of educational excellence, with 40 schools out of Parent Power’s top 100 being located in the capital.

Mr Enright added: “My congratulations go to the first-placed school in the Parent Power table, Wilson’s School in Wallington, Sutton, who have enjoyed their own remarkable year.”