Hi Gabbi
At Penrhos, we have a long established group called the Penrhosian Club, which mainly includes past staff, past parents and past and current grandparents. In recent years we have also extended the invitation to older members of our alumni community.
We host four catch ups a year for this group. One is an afternoon tea with student or staff speakers, for example students who have been on tours sharing their experiences, or staff providing insight into programs and initiatives at the College.
The other three events include a lunch followed by an invitation to watch our musicians perform at a cathedral in the city, a lunch and matinee performance of our College production, and a ticketed Christmas lunch hosted with the same group at our brother school.
Past parents also receive a digital copy of our twice yearly magazine and invitations to other community events such as speaker or author visits.
We have also recently launched Pen Friends, an initiative to help parents of graduates from the past five years stay connected through creative, social and networking opportunities. We launched it with a wreath making workshop in December.
Many of our parents were highly engaged in the life of the school as volunteers, so continuing that connection beyond their daughters’ time at the College feels both natural and worthwhile.
Caroline Jenkins
Penrhos College, WA
jenkic@penrhos.wa.edu.au
