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QE is to completely refurbish two Chemistry laboratories, following confirmation that it has been awarded a £100,000 award from research and education charity, the Wolfson Foundation.

The work will not only provide new equipment and fittings for the busy laboratories in the large 1970s Fern Building, but will also increase their capacity.

The Wolfson Foundation grant will be supplemented by a contribution from The Friends of Queen Elizabeth’s charity.

Headmaster Neil Enright said: “Sciences are tremendously strong at QE at all levels and we already have huge numbers studying Chemistry at A-level, many of them going on to highly regarded courses at university, such as Medicine. This award will enable us to provide them with the best, modern facilities.

“We are very grateful both to the Wolfson Foundation and to our parents, alumni and friends who give through FQE.

“We plan to carry out the work in the summer holidays this year, along with both the next phase of improvements in the Fern Building and, hopefully, the start of work on The Robert Dudley Studio – the new drama and spoken-word facility to be created within our Main Building.”

Paul Ramsbottom, chief executive of the Wolfson Foundation, said: “We are very pleased to support Queen Elizabeth’s School, enabling them to create outstanding facilities for their students.

“We hope the new Chemistry laboratories will encourage and inspire students at all levels to study Science.”

The bid to improve the two laboratories, S9 and S10, was submitted to the Wolfson Foundation last summer. The School is working with experts in the field of school laboratory installations.

Floors, ceilings, services, teachers’ stations, student workbenches and tools and fixtures will all be replaced, with new wiring and feeds for IT and utilities also included within the scope of the project.

QE’s Head of Chemistry, Amy Irvine, today spoke of her delight that the work is to go ahead.

“The facilities in those laboratories are no longer of a standard that best suits teaching practical science lessons, so this is extremely good news. The refurbishment will make it easier for us to deliver the best possible lessons. Boys of all ages here will benefit, while the work will make QE an even more attractive destination as we continue to recruit high-quality staff to the department.”

QE currently has 18 teachers and three laboratory technicians across three Science subjects, with nine of these working in Chemistry.

The Wolfson Foundation is an independent charity with a focus on research and education. Its aim is to support civil society by investing in excellent projects in science, health, heritage, humanities and the arts.

Since it was established in 1955, some £1 billion (£2 billion in real terms) has been awarded to more than 12,000 projects throughout the UK, all on the basis of expert review.

Twitter: @wolfsonfdn

From the Kashmir dispute and the rights of UK asylum seekers to urban planning and new directions for nuclear power, members have been savouring a highly varied range of topics at meetings of QE’s Élite Geography club.

And while the club for top GCSE geographers is run by Geography teacher Helen Davies, it is, she points out, recently the boys themselves who have been providing this food for thought in a string of “absolutely excellent presentations”.

The club, which is running under a new format this year, is open, by invitation, to boys among the top 30 geographers in Year 11. Pupils from Years 10–13 are also welcome to drop in and listen to the presentations on a week-by-week open basis.

The club’s activities comprise a combination of short projects using resources produced by the University of Oxford and presentations from the Year 11 geographers.

“The purpose of this enrichment activity is to develop awareness of the world and help pupils think holistically and critically about the issues affecting it now and in the future,” said Ms Davies.

“Geography is a subject that is valued highly by universities and employers, and being involved in Élite Geography could not only improve boys’ results at GCSE or A-level, but also help them develop high-order thinking skills – such as analysis, evaluation and synthesis – that will benefit their studies more widely across the curriculum.

“The students who are taking part in it this year in its new format are just loving it.”

The year’s programme began with a trio of presentations from Ms Davies on Water Scarcity followed by a week looking at the Ethics of Global Poverty.

Since then, it has been the pupils who have presented to their peers.

Among them is Year 11’s Chanakya Seetharam, pictured right, who gave a presentation on Geography through a Marxist lens. He said: “As a keen geographer, I have never been particularly given to the perception of Geography as somehow a ‘soft’ subject. The club provides an indisputably rigorous and academic forum, in which to discuss topical geographical issues.”

Presentations in January have included:

• Geographies of conflict: the Kashmir Dispute, given by Ady Tiwari
• Evaluating the use of thorium as an energy source for nuclear power, from Arjun Mistry
• Megafauna: the significance of long-term climatic changes and tropic cascades, delivered by Koustuv Bhowmick.

All these boys are in Year 11.

Pictured, top, is Year 11’s Saim Khan, speaking about Mitigating the impacts of solar hazards. Other previous topics this academic year were delivered respectively by Year 13 pupils Jai Patel and Thanojan Sivananthan: The rights of asylum seekers and refugees in the UK and Contemporary urban planning.

Old Elizabethan Raj Bavishi is spearheading efforts to bring together QE alumni in New York – a city he has long made his home.

Raj (1995–2002) is a Director with global audit and consulting firm Mazars in New York, but this year made a trip back to QE with his family to meet staff and see how his alma mater had changed over the last 20 years.

During his visit,  with Raj’s enthusiasm for the School evident, Headmaster Neil Enright threw down the gauntlet. “Raj has a talent for bringing people together,” said Mr Enright “so I have challenged him to help us develop an OE network in the Big Apple.”

Raj, who is pictured above with the Headmaster, Deputy Head (Pastoral) David Ryan and Head of External Relations Matthew Rose, relished many aspects of School life. He was a librarian for three years and remembers at a tender age being tasked with fixing the photocopier! He enjoyed playing rugby, adding:  “In sporting terms, the School is phenomenal, competing with the likes of Eton and Habs.”

One highlight that sticks in his mind is the research & presentation course he took. “I really enjoyed that class the most, partly because it prepared you for public speaking. Also, at that time, you didn’t Google everything: it was all about going to the library and trying to do some research. Teaching that is not something that every school does.

“I used to love the Founder’s Day Fete. As you get older and into your twenties and thirties, you look back and think ‘how lucky we were to have a Founder’s Day Fete.’” He had long regaled his Brooklyn-born wife, Drusty, with his tales of very British institutions such as Founder’s Day and Sports Day, and of taking part in inter-House competitions for Broughton, convincing her that her husband had, in fact, been to a school somewhat akin to Hogwarts! She had the chance to see for herself when she accompanied Raj on his visit, during which the Headmaster presented their three-and-a-half year-old son, Yash, with his own Broughton rugby shirt. Raj is shown below in his Year 7 form photo, second row from the front, third from the left.

“QE has helped me in specific ways a couple of times in my life. In my A-level results, I missed out on one grade and, if it wasn’t for the School making a phone call, I don’t think UCL would have taken me.”

He took up his place at UCL, reading Mathematics and Economics. “I was definitely a numbers guy: I always wanted to be an accountant.”

As he neared the end of his degree, he got a second-round interview with one of the Big Four accountancy firms. “One partner said: ‘My son did not get into QE’: he understood what going to QE meant.” He duly received an offer from the firm, but it lapsed when he received a 2:2 instead of the 2:1 required for the place. Instead, he secured a job with a smaller firm. “Sometimes failures happen for a reason. If I had gone to one of the Big Four, I wouldn’t have had the mentorship and the wider opportunities to see different sorts of transactions that I had with my first firm.”

It was while establishing himself in this job that through a family friend he met Michael Bernstein, a senior figure working in New York’s accountancy scene. “I call him my Jewish father: to survive in New York , you need a Jewish father!” He invited Raj to come and work in the US and so, on September 23rd 2006, he moved across the Atlantic, starting work on 1st October from offices opposite Bloomingdale’s, the famous department store.

Through mergers, that firm is now part of one of the accounting industry giant, Mazars, for which both he and Mr Bernstein, who today leads its private equity and transaction services practices, still work. “It has given me a good platform,” said Raj. Auditing was for a long time his “bread and butter” work: “I really enjoyed understanding a business and systems and processes. Using flow charts was a big skill that I learned at QE!”

Since 2014, he has worked in the financial advisory department; his role as Financial Advisory – Director involves him working closely with private equity providers, banks and the companies involved.

Reflecting on his life and career, Raj is clear about the benefits that QE has brought him. “QE actually did give us a good grounding. At that stage of your life, it’s important to have some discipline and sense of responsibility. There are of course always two ways of looking at things, but I think QE does teach you responsibility and it does give you the skillset to build your career in the way you want to.”

Pictured here with OE friends at a reunion in 2022, Raj uses social media – originally Facebook, but now largely WhatsApp – to keep in touch with fellow alumni.

• If you would like to be part of the New York Old Elizabethan network, email [email protected] and we’ll put you in touch with Raj.

Ten sixth-formers completed a personal development course designed to help young people take charge of their own lives.

The WhyOhYou programme is run by the DVS Foundation – a philanthropic organisation established by the family of Old Elizabethan Priyan Shah (1991–1998).

Priyan’s wife, Asmi Shah, who is the Programme Lead, said: “When we don’t take time to know ourselves and what we want, it becomes very difficult to make decisions that are truly right for us. We can become victim to passively following life, which over the years can lead us into the wrong professions, friendships and relationships.

“Our ambition with WhyOhYou is to help address this by empowering youth to ask themselves critical questions early on.”

Mrs Shah runs the WhyOhYou (a play on the letters of YOU) programme with a colleague, Rupal Shah, who is the DVS Foundation’s Head of Philanthropy.

The programme runs over five weeks and provides young people with the space and tools to explore who they are, what they want and how to achieve it. It covers topics such as personal values, goal-setting, coaching, having a ‘growth mindset’ and resilience, with an underlying message on the importance of self-responsibility.

It is not the foundation’s only involvement with the School. Last summer, Priyan visited QE, together with his parents, Dhiru and Rami, to present DVS Foundation Awards to ten sixth-formers for excellence across various subjects and in extra-curricular involvement. The family business is a company specialising in UK institutional real estate investment. The foundation was set up in 2012 to formalise the family’s giving.

One of the ten Year 12 pupils selected to take part in the WhyOhYou Programme is Eashan Raja, who said he had derived considerable benefit from participating.

He highlighted various aspects of the course:

• Asking the question, ‘who are you?’
• Practicing meditation in the classroom
• Many creative tasks, such as learning to coach friends, as well as making vision boards
• A ten-minute dance activity at the start of every session to loosen participants up a little: (“Although a little strange to be dancing in the classroom, I feel it was a good activity and definitely made us be more open in the sessions.”)
• Discussions covering topics such as how participants could achieve their goals and how to deal with their emotions.

“Some things were new to me, such as meditation and really deeply thinking about ‘who I am’. There were also some things I already knew, but it was definitely a good reminder to me – such as how to deal with our emotions in positive ways.

“I also feel I have become more confident talking about personal things and feelings in front of my peers, which I believe is very important, especially in our society today, where it is uncommon for men to talk about their feelings and personal things about themselves.”

Eashan thanked the course facilitators: “They were both amazing. They were really kind and considerate, making a safe place for all of us to talk about what was on our minds about the topic at hand.

“They were clearly very keen and passionate about the topics they were talking about, and this definitely showed – and made us more interactive and open. I truly do not think they could have done a better job with us.”

He was also full of praise for the resources they provided, “from the snacks, to the PowerPoint slides, the pens, paper and juggling balls!”

The 11^th edition of The Econobethan – QE’s pupil-led magazine focusing on Economics, as well as on Politics and Sociology – spans the centuries and roams the continents.

It includes original writing from Year 12 pupils on topics ranging from the ancient world – the economic history of the Roman Empire – to the very contemporary concern of the climate crisis, and from the underlying causes of Africa’s poverty to Japan’s ‘apology culture’.

The 27-page magazine also has as its special theme, ‘Black history’, with four articles in a dedicated section. The Econobethan was published just ahead of this month’s launch of a statement expressing QE’s vision for a broad, diverse and inclusive curriculum.

Headmaster Neil Enright said: “The Econobethan is always a stimulating read, and this issue is no exception, with high-quality, considered submissions from the contributors that should serve to inspire deeper thinking and research from other pupils.

“The theme of Black history is timely: through the launch of our long-term vision for a broad, diverse and inclusive curriculum, we seek to build on the very thoughtful work that has already been done at the School, ensuring that our pupils are well-equipped to thrive in our diverse, modern world.”

The Econobethan is edited by Aditya Kute, Avinash Srivastava and Nishanth Bhasuru. In their introductory editors’ note, they write that the magazine aims to “shed light on economic points of interest, as well as providing a platform for some of the School’s most talented writers to delve into current economic affairs”.

In the Black history section, Aditya looks at why Black History Month is important. He spotlights Sir Arthur Lewis, still the only Black winner of the Nobel Prize for Economics (which he won in 1979), and Claudette Colvin, a pioneer of the American civil rights movement, who, at the age of 15, was arrested in 1950s Alabama for refusing to give up her seat on a crowded bus to a white woman.

Aston Daniel looks in more detail at the work of Sir Arthur, while a piece from Avinash is entitled How Does Systemic Racism Continue to Impact Economic Outcomes for African Americans? and Keith Correia writes on How was the war on drugs in the US used as a segregation tool?

Elsewhere in The Econobethan, Nishanth explores Underworld Economics and concludes that while informal markets do cause ‘numerous issues’, nevertheless ‘contrary to the common belief, they aren’t completely negative’, since, for example, they ‘provide a pathway for low-earning families…to get by and survive’.

In the Languages section, Aayush Backory discusses Le fer et les finances: partie 1: l’économie du Luxembourg du 19ème siècle (Iron and finance Part 1: The economy of 19th century Luxembourg) and Arjun Patel writes in German on How do we Deal With the Climate Crisis? (Wie Bewältigen wir die Klimakrise?)