News from the D&A Office

From the Development and lumni Office

After the slight break from in-person events and activities it has

been wonderful to have so many alumni back to the School this Advent Term. We have also had a few changes in the Office and want to take this opportunity to introduce and re-introduce ourselves:

We are Frank, Rosalind, Katharine and Nikola and we are your Development and Alumni Team.

Frank Keenan joined Alleyn’s at the start of September as the Director of Development and Alumni Relations: lives, to help them connect with one another and to support the School.

We also serve as the School’s primary link with the Edward Alleyn Club and we work with them in their efforts to maintain a thriving alumni community.

‘I am hugely excited to have joined the Alleyn’s community and am looking forward to meeting as many alumni as possible, please do say hello and if I can ever help with anything please do get in touch, my email is

keenanfe@alleyns.org.uk’

We’re sure many of you will already be familiar with Rosalind, Katharine and Nikola who have been working together for the past five years or more and are responsible for our communications, events and managing the alumni database. We hope that you can see from this magazine and other editions that we take great pride in highlighting the many and various achievements of alumni across the world. We are always keen to hear from you, be it exciting news or life updates, or if you wish to share details of your career and family highlights with us.

We are hugely grateful to have such an active and engaged alumni community whose expertise, interest and support are integral to the success of the presentday school. There are several careers events hosted at the school and virtually throughout the year where we are very grateful to welcome alumni to share their expertise. If you would be willing to help please get in touch.

Alumni are always welcome back at Alleyn’s, both for formal events and also for more informal visits to the School. If you are ever passing by Townley Road, please do pop in and say hello! We are very happy to arrange tours of the School and help organise reunions. It has been brilliant to have alumni back at the School for a number of events already and the recent EAC Dinner was a great reminder of the lifelong connections that are formed at Alleyn’s. We hope that many more of you can make it back for the Decades’ Reunion on Saturday 18 June and Founder’s Day on 2 July. (Please see page 13 for Save the Date and details of the Decades’ Reunion on 18 June).

Many thanks for your support with the Alumni Survey, as you will see overleaf, it has provided us with very helpful guidance as we plan for the future.

We are here to help and are grateful for your support of our School,

lumni Survey

Abig thank you to the 860 alumni who completed the alumni

survey this Summer. The responses are hugely helpful and inspiring as we refresh our strategy. Your views about your time at School, the School today, and the Alleyn’s alumni network are of great importance to us and will help us to engage more effectively with you and develop our plans for the future.

Memories of Alleyn’s

There were many positive recollections about friends, teachers, sport, music, drama and CCF which all featured heavily in the comments across all the decades. The post-war years generated many memories of the evacuation to Rossall and a great fondness for the CCF. Gilbert and Sullivan, the Buttery, the Bear Pit and trips to Corbridge were all emerging themes.

Dora Wiggs (French teacher) emerges as another teaching ‘legend’ along with Loopy Young and Mr McCloy. Mr Barlow becomes the next teaching legend and remains so through to the 2000s, with The Buttery and Chelsea Buns being fond memories.

Relationship with Alleyn's

The importance of alumni services and what is most relevant to alumni was a key question and it was good to see such a positive and helpful response. There was also helpful guidance when it came to events and communications and will be reading this now. In addition the survey showed that alumni would like more relevant and consistent communications by email. We hope that many of you are already receiving our new monthly email newsletters. If you are not receiving the email and would like to sign up please email alumni@alleyns.org.uk

Key:

n Very important n Important n Not important

Alleyn’s School and the Edward Alleyn Club are reviewing the services we provide for alumni. How important are those to you.

1 Updating alumni on the news and achievements of fellow alumni 2 Helping foster a continued sense of community between alumni and the school 3 Providing careers support and work experience opportunities to current pupils and recent leavers 4 Providing opportunities for alumni to get together at social events and reunions 5 Providing professional networking opportunities 6 Providing special interest clubs e.g. sports, performing arts, travel, books

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

Key:

n Very important n Important n Not important n Don’t know

As we emerge from the pandemic we are keen to resume our programme of reunions and events. Looking ahead, please indicate how interested you are in the following types of events.

1 Reunions and social events with alumni 2 Formal dinners and/or drinks receptions 3 Talks and lectures 4 School events 5 Professional networking and careers events 6 Family events including your partner/ children 7 Sports events 8 House events 9 Multi-generational events The new millennium introduces positive mention of enjoying fields and green spaces, the sixth form, houses and trips to Buxton.

Responses were very positive about the value of an Alleyn’s education with a strong sense of pride and lifelong impact for alumni when reflecting on their time at Alleyn’s. Most alumni agree that they are proud to have attended Alleyn’s (84%) and that their education has had lifelong impact (88%).

Alumni also show high levels of agreement that the School has played an important role in their personal development with 75% agreeing with this statement.

Supporting the School

We are grateful that many alumni indicated that they would like to support Alleyn’s further. 290 respondents expressed interest in supporting the school’s development activities

• 71% expressed an interest in providing careers support

• 34% expressed an interest in sharing their story about financial support • 22% expressed an interest in making a donation or leaving a legacy

Thank you once again for taking part and congratulations to Jennifer Gleeson (Tyson’s 2008) who won the £100 Amazon voucher.