A new pupil in QE’s first year as a comprehensive, David Burton (OE 1971–1978) returned to Queen’s Road decades later to work as its Head of Finance.
Now retired, he is back with the School once again: this time, to serve as a Governor.
“I have always set great store by education and learning, which meant that I was happy to accept the Governor position as a way of supporting the running of QE, in particular guiding on the finance aspects,” says David. “I look on it as giving something back to the community and the institution of QE.”
He arrived at QE at a time of rapid expansion, with entry doubling from three forms to six. “It still carried elements of a grammar school in many respects, with masters and prefects wearing gowns in assembly, for example. But in my time I witnessed the expansion of pupil numbers up to close to its current size, and the construction of the Fern Building to help accommodate them.”
His personal memories include being in Eric Shearly’s form in his first year, participating in the School play, getting involved in debating, and becoming a prefect. Although excited to be one of the very few who was at the School for the 400th anniversary in 1973 and is still involved now during the 450th anniversary year, he says: “To be honest, I don’t recall very much about the actual commemorations 50 years ago.”
A clearer memory is of being appointed treasurer of the sixth form entertainments committee by Sid Clark, Head of Sixth Form (who later, like David, served as a Governor in retirement): ” I didn’t realise at the time that this would plant a seed for my subsequent career!”
After reading English and History at university, he embarked on a career in accountancy and insurance, training as a Chartered Accountant with Ernst & Young. Based in the City of London, he nonetheless had the opportunity to travel on assignments to North Africa, the USA, France and Switzerland.
“After a long time away from the School (38 years), a coincidence of me being at a loose end and seeing the vacancy for Head of Finance brought me back in 2016. I had little knowledge of modern state school finance, but in my experience, these are often the best situations I have always appreciated learning and understanding something new. I found the senior team and all the staff to be inspirational, so enjoyed deeply my second stint of six years at QE.
“Coming back did bring back many more memories than I thought I had retained about the school, the masters and my contemporaries.”
He retired in May 2022 and returned to the Governing Body in September this year, having served a term as an elected Staff Governor from 2016 to 2020.
David is married, with two grown-up children and a young grandson “who keeps us busy and entertained”. He enjoys DIY on both houses and cars, as well as travel, cinema, and, more recently, gardening.
“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.”
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.”
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.
Dr Paul, author of the acclaimed 2022 book, The House of Dudley, delivered a lecture assembly to Years 8 & 9, before conducting a source-based workshop to A-level historians.
Headmaster Neil Enright said: “We are tremendously grateful to Dr Paul for giving us her time and providing these insights into the family as we wrap up our anniversary year. It seems clear that without the Dudleys, not only would Queen Elizabeth’s School not exist, but neither would the Tudors – or not as we know them, in any case.”
John Dudley’s success in building up the Royal Navy, as Admiral of the Fleet. He prepared it for the successes it was to enjoy in the second half of the 16th century. He added to the fleet and to the armoury, while developing Portsmouth as a great port. His military experience and leadership were important at the 1545 Battle of the Solent against the French, which, Dr Paul said, was a greater threat to England than the later Spanish Armada. John Dudley was nearly on the Mary Rose, which famously sank, but had moved across to the larger Great Harry with the king, Henry VIII.
The boys asked many questions. One wondered why so many grammar schools like QE were established under Elizabeth. Because, Dr Paul said, men such as Robert Dudley and William Cecil, her chief adviser, had received a humanist education and sought to spread that widely. Another asked why Henry VIII had had Edmund killed, given that he had brought so much money into royal coffers. She concluded that Henry probably had no personal animus against him, but that Edmund’s unpopularity made his death a good political move.