Reports on Middle School Leadership 

Young Changemakers Program 

On 22 March, a large group of Northcote High Year 10 students and teachers attended the Young Changemakers Program Introductory Session. Both Bendigo Bank and the Inner North Community had decided to help sponsor this program for the second year running. Representatives from both organisations attended to talk with us about the program. The Inner North Community even gave us some delicious morning tea! We engaged in some open discussion about what we valued and thought could be improved in the community, as well as the meaning of philanthropy. We were told what we would be doing over the course of this program and what the process of applying for grants would be like. We chose which organisations we wished to research that we would present at the next meeting. Overall it was a very engaging but educational afternoon, and something I would definitely recommend if you ever get the opportunity.

Rowan Stewart-Smith Yr 10

Students in this program have been allocated four local organisations to research in order to present back to the group at our next session on Monday 18 April. In the next session students will reduce this list down to the three organisations they believe are making the biggest impact in their areas of passion.  They will then ask these organisations to apply for a grant of up to $15,000. Once completed, students will read the grant applications, prepare questions, visit each of the organisations and decide how the $15,000 will be distributed amongst the three organisations.

This is a fantastic opportunity to be in partnership with the Inner North Community Foundation and Bendigo Bank.  We  would also like to acknowledge these students for offering to be involved in the program.

Ms Airlie Tudhope

Newstart for Yr 10

Last term I took part in a re-engagement program called Newstart.  It’s a course designed to assist students to re-focus on their strengths, schoolwork, and future goals. The course consists of a number of activities, various camps and community experiences. The commitment required was three days a week off school campus over 6 weeks.

One of my favourite experiences that I undertook whilst on this course was caving. Caving is a very mentally and physically challenging endeavour, we were lowered into a cave and had to make it from point A to point B without leaving your group behind and occasionally leading the group, the cave was very tight and small and dark, and it took a while to get out. The most enjoyable camp was the Goulburn River expedition camp, where we rode along 38kms of the Victorian Rail Trail.

Overall it was an eye opening and very satisfying experience. I would highly recommend it to anyone. Personally I gained a lot from the experience, in particular, good leadership skills and an opportunity to reflect on my choices for the future.

Jack Murray, Yr 10

Cystic Fibrosis Victoria (CFV) Young Leadership Camp 2016

CFV hosted their annual young leadership camp for 2016 and 3 students from Northcote High School had the wonderful opportunity of attending the weekend long camp in term 1.

At the camp, we were asked the question ‘What makes a good leader?’ We were able to establish this through various activities focusing on what the types of qualities and values a good leader needs to uphold. In doing this were able to answer with: ‘A good leader must be emotionally mature, display assertiveness, have self-confidence and self-awareness, display skills which involve building relationships and be a hard worker to get the job done.

Once we had established what makes a good leader, we all created an individual mission statement. This was a crucial step in being able to recognise how we as individuals would be able to take all this knowledge we had learnt and apply it to our daily lives.

During the camp, several guest speakers visited and spoke to us about their thoughts and opinions on good leaders, how leadership is applied in their personal life and the importance of being individuals with different ideas and how we can all become leaders through this.

Not only did we learn about leadership qualities, we also learnt all about Cystic Fibrosis as a disease and how it affects millions of people across the globe. Cystic Fibrosis (CF) is a disease that affects your lungs making it hard for you to breathe. People who have CF get it when both of their parents carry the CF gene. 80% of parents who have children with CF were unaware that they were carriers of the gene.

All in all, the camp was an amazing experience for those who attended, we learnt so much and were able to take a lot back from the experience as it was great learning about essential leadership qualities and cystic fibrosis. I want to personally thank the CFV staff members who made it all happen.

Patrick Greene 10D

Darebin Youth Summit

Josephine Murphy and Rowan Stewart-Smith at the Darebin Youth Summit where students from across the Local Government Area discussed issues of importance for young people in the local area.