Grammar Gazette- Issue 1, 2017

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GRAMMAR WOMEN: THE WAY FORWARD

AUTHOR Mrs Janine Schmidt AM (Hogg, 1964) Past President of the OGA

The role and purpose of the OGA established 1899 is:

• ’Friendraising’ for the School and enhancing its reputation • Supporting School events and activities • Sponsoring and assisting with organising functions and events, particularly reunions, to forge links among Grammar Women and Old Girls and strengthen connections with the School • Maintaining the School’s traditions and championing the School’s strategic direction • Passing on the School culture and its spirit to new generations of Grammar girls and Grammar Women • Forming networks for mentoring and career/life skills development Going forward, the School will continue to provide professional support, assisting with communication and providing staffing and financial resources for Grammar Women and the OGA. The OGA will continue to provide a Management Committee to conduct its affairs and assist the School. Consequently, in implementing the MOU, the fees for membership of the OGA were set at nil for the foreseeable future at the Annual General Meeting of the OGA held in March 2017. This approach is in keeping with the practices of similar associations in other schools. All members of the OGA have OGA lifetime membership from January 2017 and no annual fee will be charged in the future. Life members will continue to enjoy the links to the School already established. Past students of the School who are not members of the OGA will be invited to opt in to a continuing relationship with the School through Grammar Women incorporating the OGA established 1899 and membership of the OGA. Recent and future graduates of the School will be invited to continue their relationship with the School through Grammar Women incorporating the OGA established 1899 and membership of the OGA. The OGA is grateful to the School for its provision of professional services which will improve the operations of the OGA.

Grammar Women Incorporating the OGA est. 1899

BRISBANE GIRLS GRAMMAR SCHOOL AND THE OGA WISH TO WORK MORE CLOSELY TOGETHER ON SCHOOL ACTIVITIES RELATING TO PAST STUDENTS. FOLLOWING DISCUSSIONS BETWEEN REPRESENTATIVES OF THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES, THE SCHOOL AND THE OGA DURING 2015 AND 2016, A MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING (MOU) WAS SIGNED IN DECEMBER 2016 OUTLINING THE ROLES, RELATIONSHIPS AND RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE VARIOUS PARTIES CONCERNED WITH COMMUNICATION AND SERVICE TO PAST STUDENTS OF THE SCHOOL. The Brisbane Girls Grammar School OGA was established in 1899 and for many years provided the focal point for the involvement of past students with the School with a Management Committee coordinating its activities. In the early 2000s, the term ’alumni’ began to be used by the School in communications and dealings with past students. The term was the description applied to a broad range of activities conducted by the School and encompassed former trustees and staff, past parents and past students. As a result of the MOU, the term will no longer be used and the preferred term for past students of the Brisbane Girls Grammar School is ‘Grammar Women’. Current students of the School are referred to as Grammar girls; once they have left the School, they will be known as Grammar Women. The School and the OGA each continue to be separate organisations with a range of responsibilities to their respective and shared communities. The School and the OGA have common interests in fostering, encouraging and supporting a thriving community of past students of the School to have ongoing positive relationships with the School and collaborate in the planning of mutually agreed activities, events and publications.

WINTER ISSUE / 2017