Alumni Homecoming 2026: Back on Campus, Back Together
Each year Dulwich International High School Programme Suzhou hosts two Alumni Homecoming events. The first one is held in June, during Graduation season. The second one is held in August.
Our June Alumni Homecoming brought together graduates from different years. Some had not visited since their own graduation. Others had been back many times. What they shared was the experience of walking through the same corridors, seeing familiar faces, and realising how much had changed and how much had not.
The conversations moved easily between catching up and looking back, between old friendships renewed and new ones begun. It was a reminder that the Dulwich International High School Programme Suzhou community does not end at graduation. It simply changes shape.
There is something particular about coming back. The campus looks a little different each time, but the feeling of being here does not. Alumni who left last year and alumni from the very first graduating class find themselves in the same conversation, standing in the same places, remembering the same things. This is where they grew up, or at least where the growing up began. That is not a connection that fades easily.
The Conversations That Pick Up Where They Left Off
Every year, alumni come back. It has become one of the school’s most valued traditions, and each year it feels a little different as the community grows.
From the moment they arrived on campus, the atmosphere shifted. There were handshakes that turned into hugs, conversations that started mid-sentence as if no time had passed, and the particular warmth of people who shared something formative recognising it in one another again. Life has taken them in very different directions, but the connection they share from their time at Dulwich International High School Programme Suzhou does not require explanation. It is simply there.
What was most striking was how easily graduates from different years found common ground. Recent leavers and alumni from the school’s earliest cohorts swapped stories, compared notes, and discovered that their experiences of Dulwich, years apart, had more in common than they might have expected.
Between conversations, many wandered the campus: back through classrooms, into Alleyn House, past the common areas and out to the sports facilities. Some were checking whether it looked the way they remembered. Most found that it did.
Once a Dragon, Always a Dragon
At Dulwich International High School Programme Suzhou, graduation is never the end of the connection. For many alumni, the school becomes a lasting part of their lives. The friendships and values formed here continue to stay with them long after they leave.
What makes Homecoming so meaningful is the reminder it offers every alumnus that, no matter how long they have been away, they remain part of the Dulwich International High School Programme Suzhou community.
Graduation does not mark an ending; the connection continues in different forms throughout their lives.
Worldwise Alumni Network (WAN): A Global Network
Amid the reunions and conversations, Homecoming brought the global reach of the Worldwise Alumni Network (WAN) into focus. Bringing together former students and parents from across EiM schools, WAN helps alumni stay connected long after graduation. Through opportunities for mentorship, professional networking, community building, service, and lifelong learning, alumni can continue to learn from one another and stay involved wherever they are in life. Alumni events and gatherings around the world bring together graduates from different schools and different years, creating opportunities to share experiences and meet people with similar interests and ambitions. For many alumni, WAN provides a sense of continuity and belonging long after school.
Homecoming may have come to an end, but the story of the Dulwich International High School Programme Suzhou alumni community continues. Friendships first formed at school remain an important part of many alumni lives, while new connections continue to grow across different graduating years and around the world.
No matter where they go or how much time passes, alumni carry this place with them. Not just the memories, but the friendships, the habits of mind, and the sense of belonging that started here. Dulwich International High School Programme Suzhou does not stop being part of their story simply because they have left. For many, coming back only makes that clearer.