‘We positioned the anniversary as a year of giving back to our


community, and an opportunity to deepen engagement with stakeholders’


programme of activities across the entire year. We were also clear that the anniversary would not be used as a fundraising vehicle for the school. Instead, we positioned it as a year of giving back to our community, as well as an opportunity for the school to deepen engagement with stakeholders. As it turns out, however, our many anniversary activities have led to pledges of support for future capital projects.


Creating legacy We formed a volunteer committee to lead the anniversary planning and delivery – and we got to work. It was quickly agreed that we should draw up a 2023 Charter to give structure to the legacy we wanted to create. The charter consists of a set of pledges to our community, to our heritage, to the planet and to our future. It includes a whole range of activities, from planting trees to volunteering challenges, a


18 SPRING 2024 FundEd


community awards scheme and increasing community access to our archive. We published our pledges on the website and displayed them around school, so they were a daily reminder of the purpose of the year.


Events and initiatives Aside from the charter activities, we wanted the anniversary to consist of a mixture of events and other initiatives. We devised a calendar of events for the year – everything from a formal candlelit launch in the town’s chapel to reunions, talks, photocalls, a garden party and large gala ball. All events (with the exception of the garden party and gala ball) were


free of charge. Between events, we kept momentum going with lots of virtual interaction, the launch of our anniversary shop and merchandise range (ties, mugs, badges, tea towels etc) and the promotion of a book about the history of the school, which we commissioned an alumnus to write. There was always something going on!


In person and virtually We created a feature wall displaying a huge timeline of our 600-year history. We also commissioned a special leather-bound 2023 visitors’ book to encourage alumni to come back to school and record their name in it during the year. We


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