Does your state school organise 'alumni networking' events?

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My DC went to a state grammar school for sixth form. They have a relatively new headteacher who came from the private school sector. He has appointed a 'Director of Engagement' whose job seems to be to raise money for the school by encouraging donations from parents and alumni. He is organising a series of networking events for 'young alumni' in central London locations, targeted at alumni who would now be between 25-35 years old. There was one for alumni working in the finance sector, and there's another for alumni working in medical related careers. They're free to attend, but must cost a lot to organise, so presumably they're aimed at extracting donations that will more than cover their costs.

Is this common in state grammar schools?

My kids went to a regular state secondary school. Never heard of them doing it.

I’m not sure I fully understand your point. Sure for fundraising (though I had to point out on one occasion to a cheery young alumnus office person from my Oxford college that as my income didn’t even feature in the lowest option of their questionnaire about graduate earnings, I wasn’t going to be endowing the library any time soon) — but having targeted young alumni networking events is also likely to make the school/ sixth firm more desirable to at least some prospective pupils, surely?

DC state sixth form often invited alumni in to talk in school, and always had them at the leavers celebrations to talk and present awards (many successful writers and the like). There is a newsletter and they are encouraged to contribute. I'm not aware of actual alumni only events though. That said, the DC wouldn't take part unless it was relevant to them (i.e. not networking for the sake of it) and though they loved their time there would definitely not be donating.

They don't need to make the school more desirable - its already very oversubscribed.

It's all about the donations.

It’s also about connections and being able to forge links with business / people who can offer work experience/ internships.

Private schools do this all the time and it creates opportunities.

I worked in a state school which did this - it’s nice to create a community too. If you exist purely on an individualistic basis the school experience can lack a little.

Yep, I get it, but it's a bit of a gamble to assume that the salaried position will pay for itself.

It put me off donating, rather than encouraging it.

They also introduced 'awards dinners' for current students where parents were expected to pay £50+ a head to see their child receive an award. If you didn't go, they didn't get the award.

That’s the private school background too. Private events for prize winners. Our school (private) didn’t do that but had a “premier league “ for parents who donated more. Rugby school has Arnold Foundation parents for example. At a state school, I’d be livid!

Schools usually work really hard to value everyone. I’d certainly assume this job is expected to pay for itself. Otherwise it’s a drain on resources which could never be justified. However if they are also organising alumni events so they become mentors - that’s a good thing too. I’d expect them to want money from parents but not divide them into givers and non givers - very divisive.

Just checked - my old grammar has a Director of Development. It’s to coordinate fund raising, alumni events and community engagement. It was advertised as £50,000 a year in 2024. So maybe not unusual at all !

I'm in my 60s. There are sometimes reunions for our state school, but the school hasn't organised them.

Our year raised some money for prizegiving in honour of one our classmates who died young. A few of us were involved in education after we graduated and one of our number attended the most recent prizegiving.

He was underwhelmed by the response from staff when he explained why it had been important to us to do something in our classmate's memory.

@WearyAuldWumman They obviously don’t pay someone to do it then. When they have a job, maybe they are more dynamic? Teachers won’t do more hours to raise money or do things for alumni will they? Alumni remembrance isn’t really a school issue - it’s a friends thing.

My DC's former school (archetypal "leafy comp") has an alumni association but it's pretty low key. They get a newsletter from time to time I think, and the odd social event locally, that kind of thing. The prizes at speech day are usually presented by an ex pupil who gives a bit of a motivational speech about their time at the school and what they've achieved since so I assume that's sorted out through the alumni association.
A local company funded a big project a few years ago and the MD is indeed an ex pupil but given there's only one school in town that's not particularly surprising really - lots of "prominent" locals went there and I don't think the school is at all aggressive regarding fundraising from alumni.

@MrsAvocet Don’t you think it’s a way forward though? When I was working in an area in my LA, one state grammar was getting £100,000 pa off alumni and parents. That was circa 30 years ago. If you don’t ask, you don’t get!

That's only partially true. At the awards ceremony, they presented the 'Janet Smith' salter to the prizewinner, but there was no explanation in the programme as to who Janet Smith was.

I see that the alumni who organised it have now had their own article placed in the local paper.

When I was a middle manager in a state secondary school, if family or friends had donated money for a prize in memory of a former pupil or teacher, some mention of that would always be made at the awards ceremony. It's not something that entails a great deal of thought or work.

The person who expressed surprise over the lack of a mention was someone who had been a middle manager in another local secondary. Bluntly, the school was happy enough to accept the prize money but didn't even bother to explain why the prize was named in honour of the former pupil. One line would have been enough.

It's usual for schools to mention alumni who have done something notable. Our old school seems to have dropped the ball.

One person in our class is reasonably famous and they're always banging on at him to turn up for prize-giving.

On the other hand, there are other former pupils (now deceased) with even more notable achievements. A prominent Scottish journalist wrote a piece in a Scottish newspaper about visiting the school and her dismay at seeing printed posters mentioning famous alumni...where the names were very slightly wrong.

I had to visit the school a few months later and the same posters were still on display.

There's been a big push in the Scottish Local Authorities to convince children that they too can be prominent in their field when they leave school. Usually, one member of a school SLT is given the role of celebrating the achievements of present and former pupils in their remit.

My experience as a middle manager was that at meetings for the now defunct SQA, staff representing my old school spent too much time talking down their catchment.

Nope. Went to a state school in a very deprived area. Alumni sectors would be amazing workers, retail workers, etc.

Just checked and there are a few ex pupils who have achieved in sports e.g. bronze medal at Olympics.

@WearyAuldWumman The schools I’m talking about certainly do celebrate alumni and have alumni organisations. They use alumni for work experience and mentoring. Obviously fund raising too! My old school has a school history room too and keeps its records available for alumni. It opens up to alumni one day each year. It’s not just about celebrating a deceased ex pupil. There’s been a lot of those since 1425. They obviously see the job of raising money as worth a salary of £50,000 (on costs make it substantially more) so getting a senior staff member to do it would have taken them away from the important day job. I think alumni can do a lot for a school if they are organised.

I never considered this. I feel fairly sure my old school/s have absolutely no interest in what any of us have done in our lives, as they had pretty limited interest when we were there.

It's definitely one of the ways the privately educated pull ahead, this conscious building and maintenance of networks.

Yes it does, some fundraising is done, but its more about helping with careers guidance. So I for example have helped students gain work experience in companies I have been working at. They also ask alumni to help with things like mock interviews, debating club etc.

@Pallaska So why not copy what the best schools do then? My old school
is a grammar but it’s not private. It’s in a rural market town and doesn’t have amazingly rich alumni by and large. However alumni are seen as having something to offer and the best schools recognise this.

I don't know what you mean, @MeetMeOnTheCorner . What do you think I am saying in my comment?

@Pallaska I think you know exactly what you are saying! You are having a pop at privately educated dc getting ahead because their schools bother. Your old school doesn’t, but why not? It’s something all schools can consider and many would find decent alumni with something to offer current dc. It’s about valuing alumni and valuing their contribution to current pupils. It’s not just something for private schools.

Er, no, I wasn't saying anything like that.

I was just saying it hadn't occurred to me - I hadn't thought about or noticed that my old schools didn't have this sort of thing, until this post.

I can’t believe you would be upset by that. Do you know what the Arnold foundation is?!

Yess please give the parents kudos, and more.

It's interesting, the more I think about it.

I have a highly specialist job - I'm a "leader" in my field. I am fairly regularly tapped to go and talk to especially women about my work, which I'm happy to do. It's a highly male dominated profession so always useful to remind people it's actually fine being a woman in my field. I've talked to colleges and undergrads and so on.

But I'd be astonished to ever be asked by my old school. I can't see how it would ever happen anyway.

It's not sports or entertainment, so my sense is that my old schools would not be interested. And yes, I've just looked at their Wikipedia and they only list singers and footballers. There's nothing about anything like science or engineering. Obviously I would not expect to be listed! But I happen to know another "alum" who won an international prize in mathematics and this isn't listed either.

I wonder whether Wikipedia itself subtly distorts the concept towards fame over the sort of professional accomplishments that might be more achievable for pupils, because in order for a person to be listed they have to be Wikipedia-notable, which means they need to be a celebrity, so skewed towards performers, or an academic. Private individuals who simply succeed in their private careers don't fit (thank goodness) into this model.

i think this is a good thing. investing in alumni is a good way to make connections that are useful for work experience for current students, for career insight talks, university experience sessions etc.

how do kids in state schools get good quality work placements? i keep hearing how kids are supposed to organise them themselves /via their parents and that seems like a way to limit experience and opportunities.