Roedean People

Grace Chaston
Space to be:
Supportive

Head of Alumnae and Development

It is great to see old friends come back together, often who haven't seen each other since they left School.

As Head of Alumnae and Development at Roedean, my responsibilities are running our alumnae engagement and fundraising programmes. We have an incredible family around Roedean which includes Old Roedeanians (our former students), current and former parents and former staff members. Our aim is to nurture a strong community that supports each other, and our current students.


A day for me normally starts with going through emails, which includes responding to requests from ORs to come back and visit, helping ORs reconnect with each other, or organising ORs or Parents to present careers talks. This could be followed by meeting with other teams around the school to plan future events or fundraising appeals, jumping on a train to London to hold an event, having a chat with a donor on the phone, or working with my team to produce the next issue of the Roedeanian Magazine.


The variety in each day and meeting incredibly interesting people. Through my role I have met (either in person or virtually) with so many exceptional Old Roedeanians and Roedean parents, who all have wonderful stories to share. One day I could be chatting to an older OR who is reminiscing about her time at the School during our WWII evacuation to Keswick (and how much the food has improved since then!) and the next I could be attending a talk to the students from an OR who is now CEO of an international fashion company, designing jewellery being worn by A-List celebrities on the red carpet, or writing radio plays for BBC Radio 4.


Seeing a student being supported on a full Bursary blossoming through her time at Roedean, and going on to achieve wonderful things at university and beyond is very rewarding. We currently have two full Sixth Form Bursaries sponsored by ORs, and we give the students the option to be in contact, and meet with, their sponsors. As well as the benefits of the financial support, it is wonderful to see the relationships between the students and their sponsor develop and continue long after they have left Roedean.


My favourite memories are the days when our whole school community comes together. Roedean Day is a great example of this, when we have current students, parents and Old Roedeanians all on-site together. It is great to see old friends come back together, often who haven’t seen each other since they left School, and we have such a range of ages attend- from ORs who attended in the 1940s and 50s, all the way up to recent leavers. In the afternoon, we all mix together on the field for Sports Day, and run the Golden Mile Relay Race – which sees an OR team take on teams of Students, Staff and Parents for the final race of the day.