Merchant Taylors’ School believes that our relationship with our boys continues for life, not just for the years they are with us as pupils. To read more about alumni events, networking and careers opportunities please see a message from our Director of Development and Alumni Relations, Nick Latham below:  

Dear Parent,

It was wonderful to see so many parents at the New Parents’ Evening on Monday 1st July. I’m glad to have this opportunity to tell you a bit about what your son can expect from the Development and Alumni Relations Office in their time at the school and after they leave. This is a very brief overview of what we do as a department.

Merchant Taylors’ School believes our relationship with our boys continues for life, not just for the years they are with us as pupils. When they leave, they join a network of around 8,000 Old Merchant Taylors (OMTs) that could be extremely useful to them in future. As long as they keep us updated with their contact details, they will have access to this lifetime of support.

Among the things we offer, and probably most pertinent in the years immediately after leaving, is access to an online careers directory of over 1,000 OMTs that have offered careers advice or work experience to their fellow OMTs. They are from a wide variety of professions, and the directory will be available to your son when he leaves, through our website. We know this works: we have heard from quite a number of young OMTs who have successfully secured internships and even jobs by making use of the directory.

We organise all sorts of events for our OMTs, from networking evenings in a number of sectors – which you will also be invited to – to events that are purely social. We have over 5,500 OMTs who actively engage with the school and attend these events, so it’s a really warm community. In recent years we have also run a popular series of online events as part of the programme, which draw an international audience of OMTs, parents, pupils and friends. We have also launched a series of yeargroup reunions, which welcome back OMTs on special anniversaries. This summer we have held reunions for the Classes of 1971-74, 1984, 1994 and 2004. OMTs have come back in large numbers, many flying in from overseas, demonstrating the strong bond they still have with the school.

The OMTs also have sporting sections that your son may choose to be involved with while a pupil and long after leaving the school. The OMTs train and play on the school facilities and have their own Clubhouse on the school site, so the relationship is a close one in every sense.

Of more immediate interest to you I’m sure, is to learn that while your son is still at school, the Development and Alumni Relations Office, working in tandem with the Careers Centre, will organise many events aimed at helping him understand what careers are available to him in future, and what he might particularly enjoy doing. We regularly invite OMTs back to the school as part of this programme, and they can offer insights into what they do now, which the boys seem to find it easy to relate to because of their shared experience of the school.

As well as this alumni relations programme, our department are also responsible for the school’s fundraising programme. We seek philanthropic support from OMTs, parents and friends of the school to support our bursaries programme and capital developments, including our current campaign for the Cricket Centre.

This is just a brief overview of what the department does, and what your son has to look forward to from our office, as both a pupil and an OMT. There are many other benefits and services we provide for OMTs, but there is plenty of time for you to learn about those!

I do hope to have the opportunity to meet all our parents at some point, whether at one of our events, at a school musical or dramatic performance, or on the sideline of a sports fixture. I wish you and your son a very happy time at the school.

With best wishes,

Nick Latham, Director of Development & Alumni Relations