Development Report

Lucie Kennedy

Firstly, a tremendous thank you to all those OWW who have welcomed me to the Westminster Community so warmly since I arrived in April 2017. I feel incredibly lucky to be able to work in such stunning surroundings in a school steeped in remarkable history, amongst a wonderful community of staff, pupils and Old Westminsters. The Development Office has undergone significant change in the last year or so, but we are now driving forward with a range of exciting projects and initiatives to enhance the experience of everyone connected with the Westminster Community.

The start of the new academic year will see the launch of a new online OW platform, named OW Connect. This exciting new platform will provide OWW with the opportunity to connect with one another, network, share memories and photographs, easily communicate within their societies and groups, book tickets for OW events and engage more deeply than ever before with The Elizabethan Club and the School. OW Connect will become the main hub of all Old Westminster news and information, and we hope you find it a fantastic tool to enhance all your OW interactions.

Shortly after the launch of OW Connect will come the launch of our new bursaries campaign. We are embarking on a mission to vastly increase Westminster School’s provision for bursary pupils, with a new focus that will be central to the School’s future evolution, whilst remaining faithful to its original foundation. We are doing this because we believe that a Westminster education should be available to the very brightest children, regardless of their financial circumstances. Our new educational venture in China will make a significant contribution towards these efforts in the fullness of time, but we have a very long way to go and so we will need everyone’s support to be able to build a substantial endowment for bursaries for the first time. This campaign is set to transform the futures of many more young people, and it will enrich the experience of all pupils at Westminster School. Over the coming months you will see new literature, a film and information on our website outlining what our aspirations are, how you can support and what the impact of that support could be. If you benefited from bursary support when you were at School and would like to be a voice in our new campaign, sharing your own story about the life-changing benefits of bursaries, please contact me directly. Also, if you have any advice or if you would like to find out more about our plans, I would be delighted to hear from you. Everyone will be aware that our data protection laws have recently been changed, and you will have received a copy of our updated Privacy Policy which can be viewed on our website. There are likely to be more communications from us in relation to the General Data Protection Regulation and e-communications later this year. If you have any questions, comments or concerns about how your personal information is stored and used by the Development Office, please do not hesitate to contact us.

We will not be conducting a telephone fundraising campaign this summer, but instead you will see that the Development Office is focusing on a range of different initiatives to help to both gather support for the bursaries campaign and to ensure being part of the Westminster Community is as rewarding for everyone as it could possibly be.

Finally, the Development Office and The Elizabethan Club are eager to get back in touch with former staff members. If you are in contact with any of your former Masters, Matrons or colleagues, please do encourage them to contact our office – we would be delighted to involve them in all that we do.

As always, our utmost thanks goes to everyone who has contributed to the School in so many ways over the years – whether that be through mentoring, coming to speak at events, offering financial support or actively participating in the wealth of clubs and societies that the Westminster Community offers. I look forward to meeting many more of you in the next year, and hope to see you at an OW event or gathering soon.

With warmest wishes,

Lucie

The Development Office +44 (0)20 7963 1113 developmentoffice@westminster.org.uk