Prestigious Perth girls’ school Penrhos College has invited any former students who claim they were the victims of sexual abuse to come forward.

In a letter to the Como college’s alumni, principal Meg Melville said that “recent contact” made with Penrhos and the final report of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse had triggered the mail-out to past students.

“Whilst Penrhos College was not mentioned in the report of the royal commission, recent contact with the college regarding historical events would indicate that we need to be proactive in reaching out to our community,” Mrs Melville wrote.

The principal told The West Australian yesterday that the college had been contacted by the brother of a student.

“He indicated that he believed his relative had been abused whilst a student,” she said. “However, she was not prepared to come forward at all.

“He was saying if this had happened to his sister then he wanted anyone else who had an issue to have the opportunity.”

Mrs Melville said the college decided the letter was the best approach.

“Information offered by any member of our alumni who wishes to share any experience of this nature will, of course, be treated with the utmost sensitivity and in absolute confidence,” the letter said.

“In close collaboration with the Uniting Church, and in line with our absolute commitment to the wellbeing of our students, past and present, Penrhos College wishes to invite any member of our alumni who may consider they were treated inappropriately in this context during their time as a student to come forward.”

Mrs Melville invited former students to contact her directly or speak to the “church safe officer” of the Uniting Church.

“The safeguarding of our students is of paramount importance to the Penrhos College community and the successful development of future strategies for preventing and responding to child abuse is dependent on our enduring culture of openness, transparency and mutual support,” she wrote.

Penrhos was established in the 1950s to provide a Methodist ladies school in the southern suburbs.