In week 2 of this term, our newly elected Student Leadership team participated in the Leadership Summit. The purpose of the summit was to provide the students with an opportunity to plan for the year ahead as well as learn about themselves as leaders. The day began with a time of quiet reflection as Rev Naomi Cooke discussed how to find balance in their lives and the importance of being still in this often busy world. Tim Chapman, our Outdoor Education Coordinator, then ran the group through a series of different activities with a focus on discovering what type of leader they are and how they can utilise their strengths in a team setting. 

The rest of the day was all about planning. The students were able to spend time with their mentor teachers to propose new ideas and clarify expectations as well as outline the year ahead. The remainder of the summit had a focus on group bonding as we made dinner, played games and stayed overnight at the school. 

Whilst a little bleary-eyed the next day, the students embraced the service activity facilitated by Mr Simon Doyle in the iHub. In small groups, the students worked on two different service activities. The first activity had the teams build and donate water filtration systems that will effectively increase the health and wellbeing of an entire community in Uganda as a part of the Water Works Program. The other activity, developed by the Helping Hands Program, required the teams to build prosthetic hands that are donated to amputee landmine victims throughout the developing world. 

These programs can be viewed via these links https://waterworksprogram.com/ and https://helpinghandsprogram.com.au/

Overall, the summit was a great opportunity to spend time together and focus on the wonderful momentum of this enthusiastic group of students. It’s going to be a wonderful year ahead. 

Nicole Matthews
Year 11 Coordinator