F ocus on the Foundation

Focus on the Foundation

Overview from Kathryn Bartram

It is amazing to think another year has gone by, and I am now starting my fourth academic year at Reed’s. Although it is always so sad to say goodbye to another group of Sixth Form leavers, there is some comfort in knowing that they are now officially becoming part of our world as Old Reedonians.

The Old Reedonian community is truly special and having the opportunity to get to know all of you makes all our jobs such a joy. It is amazing that although so much has changed at the School over the years, the very core ethos and values have remained the same. Preparing the Reed’s Heritage archive site for launch this year has particularly brought this to the fore. As we have spent countless hours trolling through old photographs, some dating back to the 1930s, and matching up faces to names, many of whom, although in their 80s and 90s still attend events regularly, it is hard not to get philosophical. I look at our boys who are starting in The Close and I can’t help but wonder what their life journeys will be and what stories they will be telling at their Reunion Day in 2077. It is a privilege to know that in some small way, we will be a part of that journey. This past year has been a busy but exciting one, where we have seen the culmination of many projects and initiatives, as well as the beginning of new ones. In total this year we have managed over 175 different events, campaigns and publications. None of this would have been possible without the incredible work of the Development Office team and the support of ORs in so many ways.

We have added two new team members to the Development Office: Lucy Sadler and Ruth De Fraga Gomes. It is impossible to think how we ever managed to survive without them. Lucy has been working alongside Sharmaine on the many Old Reedonian events, as well as doing an incredible job pulling together all our

ORs are helping us to achieve our goal of keeping the Foundation at the heart of the School

mailings and reports. Ruth, as Foundation Secretary, has transformed the Foundation application process, as well as serving as a compassionate advisor for our 74 Foundation pupils.

Ed Whiffin has earned a well-deserved promotion and is now our Events and Outreach Manager. I would extol his virtues on the event-management side, but I live in constant fear that one of our ORs may try to entice him away. He has done an incredible job expanding our outreach and this year we had over 1500 state school children from economically disadvantaged areas attend our Forum activities.

On the marketing side, Alison Atkins is clearly doing too good a job in her role, as this January we had nearly a 35% increase in the number of applicants sitting the entrance exams to the School. Our new branding, website and prospectus have earned us accolades amongst other independent schools.

And, of course, the lynchpin of the entire OR community, Sharmaine. I am convinced she has some secret to finding more than 24 hours in a day. In addition to running all our OR events, which you will have read about, she has organised careers seminars, managed all the OR social media, run our Foundation marketing, kept in touch with our ORs, helped with fundraising, put ORs in touch with each other, reconnected ORs to the School and, alongside Andy Wotton, spear-headed the launch of the Heritage website. If you haven’t yet been on the Heritage site please log on and have a look. It has only a slightly less encyclopaedic knowledge of the OR community than Sharmaine herself.

Although the Development Office is technically a team of six, in reality we are a virtual team of nearly 3500, as so much of what we do is reliant on the support we receive from you, our ORs. So on behalf of the entire team, our Foundation pupils, and everyone at Reed’s I would like to take this opportunity to say thank you.

During this past year our ORs have participated in our careers fairs and seminars, outreach activities, served as governors and on various School committees, offered work placements for pupils, joined the Reed’s School staff, helped organise events, run the London