Welcome to this very first edition of the Ivanhoe Girls' Alumni Newsletter. The purpose of this bi-annual Newsletter is to keep past students of Ivanhoe Girls’ informed with Alumni news, events, school activities and community notices. Hear an update from our Ivanhoe Girls' Old Grammarians Association (IGOGA) President, Sue Lees (née Watt, Class of 1975) and our inaugural 2026 Alumni Liaison Prefect, Aoife Sandy (Class of 2026).

In 2026, the School will focus on expanding its offerings including: 

• developing an 'experience' register of past students who are interested in giving back in a voluntary capacity and sharing knowledge and wisdom, work experience opportunities with our current students and/or mentoring recent graduates 
• introducing a Careers Breakfast Series with current students and past students as panel members
• launching the inaugural soon to be announced IGOGA Fellowship
• Sharing Alumni stories and 
• strengthening Alumni engagement and connection where possible.

If you would like to share stories, feedback, or ideas, please reach out to Michelle Young, Alumni and Community Relations Coordinator at alumni@ivanhoegirls.vic.edu.au

We encourage you to connect with Ivanhoe Girls' Grammar School via LinkedIn and the School Alumni Platform to keep informed about the opportunities that arise from time to time.

With best wishes

Melanie Dow
Director of Advancement

We're always looking to stay in touch with our past students, and we'd love for you to add the School to the Education section of your LinkedIn profile so we can celebrate your achievements, update you with Reunions, and in some cases approach you to be a speaker at Careers Evenings, Breakfasts or other Alumni engagement opportunities.

The School has always been a place of opportunity – for students and for families who value girls’ education. Historically the majority of families have prioritised education in their finances and have often sacrificed alternative opportunities for themselves, in order to give their children an Ivanhoe Girls’ Grammar School education.

The School statement ‘Our Girls Speak for Themselves’ is true - but also, importantly, our girls speak for others who, because of their situation or place in society, cannot strongly speak for themselves. This has always been a strong principle of the School and has been carried by Alumni into advocacy and service in many community areas, organisations and issues.

The School Values of Bravery, Vibrancy, Curiosity, Connectedness and Kindness have rung true since 1903.

An example is the Cross-Country Ski team. A ski team a long way from the snow? As manager of the team, other schools used to ask me for the ‘success’ recipe. But the recipe was unique. It was a combination of students who were prepared to push themselves physically and mentally; who were curious about the next challenge; who were connected and committed to the team; who loved the experience and encouraged others to give it a go. 

It was students who were kind to each other and kind to other teams; they could acknowledge and accept defeat, applaud the winners and learn from their experience. The 'icing on the cake' was the involvement of parents who supported the whole team, not just their child. The team continues in the same vein today under the leadership of two Alumni – Teacher in Charge, Alex Smith (Class of 2007) and Co-President, Sarah Campbell (Class of 1988).

Respect is the quiet principle at Ivanhoe Girls’ Grammar School. Students are given respect as learners, and in return, respect staff. Quietly, respect is expected to others and by others. It becomes embedded into our character growth and we willingly carry it with us for life. Respect means acknowledging the thoughts, feelings and actions of others. It means bringing people with us and being inclusive.

50 years on, Ivanhoe Girls’ Grammar School past and present students are using the opportunities, values and principles the School has given them to create a better world; that is why I continue to be involved.

Suzanne Lees (née Watt, Class of 1975)
President
Ivanhoe Girls’ Old Grammarians’ Association

Please note that the Ivanhoe Girls' Old Grammarians' Association (IGOGA) PO Box address for sending letters and correspondence will be closing in July 2026. 

Moving forward, please send all postal correspondence directly to:

Attention: IGOGA
123 Marshall Street
Ivanhoe VIC 3079

The IGOGA AGM will be held on Monday 27 April 2026 at 6.30pm in The Judy Clark Room, Level 5, The Cooerwull Centre, 7-13 Noel Street, Ivanhoe.

If you are a Founding Member (Life Member of IGOGA) and wish to express your interest in joining the Committee, please look out for the Notice of AGM in your emails, which will be distributed on Friday 27 March 2026. For those members we don't have an email address for, you will be able to access the Notice of AGM and associated forms via the website in the coming weeks.

Our Alumni are a living reminder that while students may leave our school, they never truly leave its community. My name is Aoife, and I am very excited to introduce myself as Ivanhoe Girls’ first Alumni Liaison Prefect.

I joined Ivanhoe Girls in the Early Learning Centre when I was three years old, and I could never have imagined, back then, the impact this school would have on shaping who I am, or how much I would come to love what lies beyond those green metal gates. 

Now, 14 years later, as I approach the same gates at the end of Year 12, I see them differently. They are no longer just gates I once walked through - they represent the teachers who have guided me, the subjects that sparked passions I didn’t know I had, and the peers who have become my lifelong friends. Ivanhoe Girls' has truly been the centre of my story, and I want the same for every student who walks through the gates. 

In this role, I want to strengthen the ties between past and present. I hope to make every student feel that they belong here long after they go. I want to celebrate their achievements, share their stories with current students, and create moments where past and present can meet and learn from one another.

I'm excited to work with this incredible community, and I can’t wait to see how past, present, and future students continue to shape Ivanhoe Girls’ together.

Aoife Sandy
Alumni Liaison Prefect

Do you work in the Engineering or STEM fields?

2026 Career Breakfast Series
A great opportunity to share your expertise with students

We’re inviting Alumni to return to Ivanhoe Girls’ for this Inaugural Careers Breakfast Series. Join a panel or round table discussion to share your background and expertise in your chosen field with our Senior School students.

This session on Wednesday 27 May will focus on careers Engineering, Environmental Science, and all STEM related fields, and we warmly welcome both early‑career and experienced professionals to participate.

Wednesday 27 May, 7.30am - 8.25am
We are seeking Alumni working in the following areas;

• Engineering (all areas)
• Environmental Science
• Research and Laboratory Science
• Other STEM related fields

If you are interested in sharing your career journey, please complete the expressions of interest form here: https://forms.office.com/r/Cdsfvt6C77

Expressions of Interest close on Monday 6 May.
Enquiries: alumni@ivanhoegirls.vic.edu.au or +61394906232

As a community, we congratulate the students of the Class of 2025 on their excellent VCE results and the wide range of tertiary offers they have accepted.

Click here to read the Tertiary Newsletter. (Password: 2026)

As part of the 125th Anniversary of the School in 2028, a commemorative book we will be profiling 125 outstanding alumnae and influential people from our school community - and we need your help to identify these 125 amazing alumnae or special members of Ivanhoe Girls'!

The nomination survey is now available, offering you the chance to put forward someone who has inspired you: a classmate, a teacher, a Principal - or even your self-nomination.

Fill out the Shared History Survey here!

Historian, Helen Penrose will be supported by the specially appointed History Committee, who will review all nominations. We look forward to finalising a shortlist of remarkable candidates by August 2026.

There have been some exciting developments in the School Archives Office over recent months! We are delighted to have welcomed Helen Penrose, Historian from HistorySmiths, who is researching the School’s history in preparation for our 125th anniversary in 2028.

Helen brings a wealth of experience, having authored histories for numerous schools, and we are thrilled to have someone of her calibre guiding this important project.

In support of the deep exploration of our past, I am currently digitising School Council Minutes from 1922 onwards. This work will ensure both the long-term preservation of these records and improved accessibility for future research. We are also continuing our project to scan photographs from the Archives, both for our digital collection and for inclusion in the History book.

Donations to the Archives
We are grateful for the many wonderful donations received in recent months, including class photographs and Honour Certificates (Marion Renn, Class of 1960), School uniforms from the 1980s (Robyn Anderson, Class of 1977), School Athletics ribbons (Laurine Symington, Class of 1966), issues of Spectrum from the 1980s (Tracey and Sara Page), and a collection of School Production memorabilia from former staff member Sylvia Gilbert.

If you have items you would like to contribute to the Archives, we would be delighted to receive them. We also welcome visitors who wish to explore the collection or undertake family research, and we are always happy to assist.

If you are interested in volunteering, please contact me at the School to discuss how you might be involved - we are always seeking help identifying people in photographs!

"Curious and Curiouser!" exclaimed Alice.

Curiosity is a core value for students at Ivanhoe Girls’ Grammar School and beyond. Curious to discover both the world, and their place in it.

For Catherine Lobbe (Class of 2015), she has found her place a rather 'curious' one; volunteering at Sanaga Yong Como Rescue Centre in Cameroon, working with chimpanzees!

Why volunteer at the Chimpanzee Rescue Centre?
After school, I spent seven years at university, and then I went into the workforce for three years. COVID had meant that I was not able to complete an overseas placement as is commonly done, so I decided to give myself a year to spend travelling and a chance to revaluate my career options. 

I spent time travelling in Central and South America, which was fantastic, but I wanted to do something more meaningful. I had a friend who is a vet and is on her second six-month stint at the Rescue Centre. 

The chimpanzees are those rescued from the illegal ape meat trade, or habitat destruction, or from poachers who are wanting to sell infants to a lucrative foreign trade. Often they have killed the mother to get the infant. I was also attracted by the focus on sustainability and community empowerment at the Centre. 

The Centre is in its 27th year and is moving to a model of using fewer international staff; they have just hired two Cameroonian vets. There are about 35 local workers, some who have been there for 25 years. 

Through paying a decent wage, contributing to the local economy, providing access to education and healthcare, the sanctuary tries to improve the quality of life for those in the surrounding villages, and provide conservation education.

Where is the sanctuary, what are the daily living conditions, and what language do they speak?
Sanaga Yong is in the eastern section of Cameroon, Africa, and is located in the Mbague forest, which is 24km from the nearest town of Belabo. It is an area of precious rainforest. 

It is in the francophone area of Cameroon, however most people speak at least two local dialects and French is their third or fourth language. My Year 12 French was rusty, but is definitely improving!

Volunteers live onsite with vets and other staff. Electricity is provided through solar panels and reserved for essential items such as radios for communication. We live in basic concrete cabins and have a shared kitchen. 

We go to Belabo once a fortnight to get supplies for camp. We get fresh fruit from local villages, and water from a bore which is pumped up to camp by a generator. We have bucket showers, long drop toilets, and we hand wash our clothes. We have one spot in the forest where we can sometimes get internet and use WhatsApp.

I’m here in the dry season with temperatures ranging from 25°C to 30°C during the day, and about 20°C at night. The wet season would be more difficult conditions.

What are you doing as a volunteer?
I prepare meals for the chimps. They eat four times a day and eat a variety of fruits, vegetable, leaves and grains. They also find and eat insects, leaves and wild fruits. To prepare the meals I have to clean all the fruit and count out pieces for 76 chimps. Some chimps have special diets also.

I also prepare ‘enrichment’ for the chimps. Some chimps have restricted movement during the day because of medical or behavioural problems, so to stop them getting bored we prepare various activities for them throughout the day. This includes coloured pencils and paper, soapy water in a bucket, food inside various containers that are difficult to get out, a collection of different wild fruit, leaves, seeds, or other similar activities.

Have your medical skills been useful?
Almost everyday I use some medical skills. I can support Hannah, the vet, during surgeries as there is no nursing support. I can help her monitor the anaesthetic so that she can spend time during operations teaching and supervising local vets.

Healthcare is hard to access here and very expensive. The local hospital is 24kms away in Belabo, and most people don’t have cars or bikes. Medical services are very limited. The sanctuary supports their workers and families to access health care if needed, but to be able to provide basic first aid and medical care can save the families a lot of money.

How do you recognise the chimpanzees?
They all have names and individual personalities which are well-known to the caregivers. Caregivers are staff working with certain chimps and enclosures. Some of the caregivers have been working with the chimps for over 10 years and have special relationships with them, and can tell you all their likes and dislikes. Since getting here I have learnt to identify all the chimps and interact with a few particularly friendly chimps. They are wild animals with a dangerous potential which can never be ignored.

What have you learnt about yourself and about the chimpanzees?
I have learnt that my medical skills do have application outside the usual medical system.

I have also learnt about the interaction between chimpanzees and humans. One normal behaviour for chimps is grooming. This when they take turns looking at each other’s skin and squeezing/picking at any abnormalities. This is beneficial for squeezing out insects and cleaning wounds. When chimpanzees are comfortable with certain humans, they will try to groom them, or offer their arm to be groomed! When grooming humans, they love picking at pimples, belly buttons and they love playing with zips and pockets. 

Sometimes if a chimp has hurt themselves, they will present it to the vets or caregivers to be looked at. Chimps here love cleaning – each day their sleeping quarters get cleaned while they are out in their enclosure, but if you give them a mop or a cloth, and some water when they come back, they will copy what they have seen!

Do you have a special chimpanzee story to tell us?
Amaia was born at the sanctuary due to birth control failure (all the chimps at the sanctuary have to be on birth control but occasionally accidents happen – three since 1999!). 

Amaia's mother Carla is raising her really well despite the fact that Carla’s mother was killed for the illegal bushmeat trade, and therefore Carla never learnt any parenting skills. 

It takes a whole family of chimps to raise a baby. Amaia can often be seen riding for fun on Aunty Margot’s back, having a tickle fight with Aunty Cecile, playing with Aunty Anita’s feet, chasing Aunty Selma and jumping on dad, Kanoa. When there is any conflict or concern in the group Carla and Margot take Amaia deep into the jungle, away from any danger.

The Class of 2025 Celebration was a meaningful opportunity to come together and reflect on everything we have shared over the years. It provided a moment to pause and acknowledge the significance of reaching this milestone. Being in the same room again, surrounded by familiar faces, highlighted just how much we have experienced, both individually and as a cohort.

The evening offered us time to reconnect, share stories, and celebrate the journey that has brought us here. It marked the end of an important chapter and gave us a valuable opportunity to acknowledge the different paths that lay ahead.

Thank you to the staff who organised the event and brought it all together so beautifully. For the Class of 2025, the celebration was a chance to look back on everything we’ve shared, and say goodbye to this chapter of our lives together, carrying these memories and connections with us as we move forward.

Giovanna Presta
Class of 2025 Graduate and 2025 School Vice Captain

We were delighted to welcome back Alumni from the Classes of 1991, 1996, 2001 and 2006 for their reunions. This wonderful event brought together Alumni across multiple Year Levels, filling the room with laughter, recognition and shared memories. There is something truly special about watching old friendships pick up exactly where they left off!

The afternoon began with a guided tour led by Acting Principal, Louisa Scerri, and Director of Advancement, Melanie Dow, who showcased many of the exciting developments as well as the familiar spaces around the School. Following the tour, guests enjoyed drinks and canapés in the Performing Arts Centre Foyer, where our School Archivist, Carolyn Exton, had put together a special collection of images from each year group sparking conversation among attendees. 

Whether attendees had kept in touch or returned to School after many years, the Reunion offered a warm setting to reflect, reminisce, and celebrate the ties that began at Ivanhoe Girls’. Reunions like this remind us that a School is not just buildings or classrooms, but friendships, shared experiences and memories that stay with Alumni long after they leave.

Below are some favourite memories at school from the Alumni who attended;

• Being dressed up as a bride as Locksley House Captain! – Aliki, Class of 1996
• All the time spent in the Art House on Marshall Street – Katherine, Class of 2001
• The laughs and tears we shared in the Year 12 Common Room and Judy in the Sick Bay with her green cordial – Laura, Class of 2001
• The frog pond, rose garden and the Year 12 Centre – Luisa, Class of 1991
• The lifelong friendships I made and still have. All have shared so much together and no matter the time between drinks it feels like no time has passed at all – Naomi, Class of 2001
• Loved being part of Oswald and all the House activities – Sophie, Class of 2001
• Outdoor Education camps – Katherine, Class of 2006

The Cantiamo Choir is open to all Ivanhoe Girls’ Alumni who like to sing as part of a group.

Joining Cantiamo Choir is a fantastic opportunity to reconnect with your old classmates and share our mutual love for music.

Rehearsals are in the Performing Arts Centre on Tuesdays, 7.45pm – 9.00pm during term time and there are two concerts a year.

For more information, please contact:
Laura Ross
95lross@gmail.com

The Women's Inter-School Golf Challenge Cup was held on Monday 16 March at Sorrento Golf Club, with Ivanhoe Girls' finishing in 7th place with 126 Points. 

Representing Ivanhoe Girls' was:

• Heather Schnagl AM (Past Principal 1998 - 2017)
• Jenny Sherwen (Class of 1975)
• Jenny Cribbes (Class of 1968)
• Libby Forrest (Class of 1968)

Whilst the conditions were a little damp, they did not dampen the enthusiasm or the golf scores on the course at Sorrento. More than 70 players recorded a Stableford score of 30 or better.

For the first time in a long time we had a tie for first place, St Leonard's and Tintern with 133 points, Firbank followed with 132 points.

Deborah de Rossi from 'You Matter' spoke of the work of the charity that WIGCC will support from 2026. The stall was a great success, whilst the dollar amount has not been finalised the quantity, quality and variety of goods for sale was outstanding.

Thank you to all who participated in some way to make our Annual Golf Challenge Cup such a success.

Next year's event will be held at Kew GC. Date to be confirmed.

If you are interested in participating in future Golf events including the IGOGA Golf Day later in the year. Please contact Michelle Young, Alumni and Community Relations Co-ordinator at the School via igoga@ivanhoegirls.vic.edu.au 

From the musical performances to reunions, don't miss a single date!

Click here to view all upcoming Alumni events.
Click here to view all upcoming School events.