Like a leader

I had the pleasure of accompanying 24 of our student and sport leaders to the annual GRIP conference this week. GRIP stands for generosity, responsibility, integrity and people.These core values drive the content and underpin the ways of working we hope our student leaders will develop.

The students spent the day learning about collaborative leadership - that is, the style of leading that enables others to work together towards a common cause. The students' enthusiasm and thoughtful responses to the challenges presented were a sight to behold. Each student leader group has a different level of skills and confidence. This year's group are quieter, more observant, tentative almost. They are looking for role models and willing to learn. They accept feedback greedily, willingly trying out the tips they have been given to test the effects. They want more and they want to learn.

The GRIP conference enabled their confidence and gave them something to aspire to, strategies to practice, a framework to hang their budding leadership of people on. They met leaders from other schools and exchanged ideas with kids like them, and different from them.

They also had a lot of fun! It's money well spent.

And I'll be going again next year.