Student Voice, Agency and Leadership
Lorin Nicholson Workshop
On Thursday the 17th of October, motivational speaker Lorin Nicholson ran a workshop with our Year 7-11 leadership students. The focus of the days was about developing student’s leadership skills and helping them to realise their full potential. Lorin used his own experiences growing up blind to covey a powerful message of resilience and perseverance to our students. Students were first introduced to Lorin and his story before undertaking a series of activities that helped them reflect on their leadership journey and plan actions moving forward. Below is a statement from one of the students who attended the workshop.
“The way Lorin communicated to us was something I had never seen before. I had so many people say what Lorin said in the speech he gave, but I have never listened or understood what it really meant. It’s very easy to say but not easy to mean what you say and I truly believe he meant every single word in that speech. Only now do I understand what it means.” – Leilani Tyrell 9E
Halogen Young Leaders Day
On Monday the 11th of November, four students attended the Halogen Young Leaders Day with Mr Fowles at the Melbourne Exhibition building in the CBD. Students heard from a series of guest speaker during this event including:
- John Coutis – born without the lower part of his body, John rolls around on his custom skateboard sharing his story and life lessons
- Erin Molan – host for Channel 9, Erin shared her story about what it has been like being a trailblazer for women in sports media
- Sean Purcell – given a second chance in life after his heart stopped beating on the beach one morning, Sean shared his experience and what he learnt from it
- Jade Slater – Social entrepreneur and project manager for the Cotton On Foundation, Jade shared how she is working towards raising funds for overseas education projects
- Bianca Chatfield – Australian Netballer, former The Block contestant and TV Presenter, Bianca shared her passion for developing young leaders which lead her to publishing a book and launching a leadership mentoring program
Ali Seraidar, Akash Singh, Lani Tyrell and Amber Watson were selected to represent the College at this event and found it to be an insightful and valuable experience. Thank you to these students for their involvement.
SWPBS Forum
Over two sessions in Week 4, a group of students provided the College with valuable feedback on our School Wide Positive Behaviour Support (SWPBS) framework and its implementation so far. During this forum, these students reviewed the College’s behaviour matrix, explored what SWPBS looks like at our school and provided ways in which we can further promote positive relationships. It was a great opportunity not only for the students involved but also for staff who gained a thorough insight into how well the implementation of this framework is going. Thank you to all students who were involved.
Aspire Leadership Program Presentation
Over the course of this year, our Aspire Leadership students have been involved in a series of workshops and excursions in order to develop their leadership skills. As part of the program, students are to lead their own initiative at the College in order to further improve the environment for all students. After analysing the Student Attitude to School data from this year, this group of Aspire Leadership students decided to develop a series of workshops for staff to explain the strengths from the data and give them ideas of ways on which to further improve the school experience for all students. On Tuesday the 12th of November, the students presented to our teaching staff an overview of the program and the data results from the survey. After this, staff were able to attend two of the three workshops on offer. These workshops included topics such as Connectedness between Students and Teachers, Safety and Wellbeing, and Motivation and Goal Setting. These workshops were informative and engaging for all staff members. Congratulations to all students involved and thank you for sharing your knowledge with our staff.
