Parallel - Student News 

Leadership Training with the Academically Select Entry Network

As we all found a seat in the Old Boys Pavilion at Melbourne High School, we were greeted by Amy and Cara from yLead. Amy and Cara quickly introduced themselves to everyone and wasted no time in getting us, members of each Selective Entry school’s leadership team, to mingle with our peers in leadership. A couple of icebreakers later and we were all comfortable enough in each other's presence to start talking about what makes a good leader. We conferred with our peers about what we want our impact on our respective schools to be and the actions we would take to create this lasting impression, all the while playing some unconventional games such as creating dance moves and having “dance-offs”. Amy drew analogies and metaphors from these games, explaining how people who tend to sit back and stay within groups or areas they feel safe in may look back on lost opportunities wishing they had participated in certain events with feelings of regret, reminding us that our time at school is limited and therefore we must realise our ideas at any given opportunity. 

As the day went on, the newfound friendliness between all the members began to lead into more candid and deep discussions about the structure of our leadership systems and the changes we want to implement in our schools. We grew more comfortable with the idea of taking home ideas from our like-minded peers, prompted by this new sense of branching out and venturing out of our comfort zones. The result of this was a fruitful training session in which every one of us walked away with a handful of new friends we can call on for advice and new view on leadership; whether it be actively making everyone feel welcome at school with a simple smile, or eyebrow raise from behind our masks, to working independently in order to inspire others to pursue their own aspirations rather than conforming to what their friends may want. Amy and Cara expanded our definitions of leadership during the day and as a result of this, I believe the Nossal SRC team is now equipped to work at its best level, with the assistance of students, teachers and even support from our other friends in leadership at schools from across our Selective Entry Network. 

A huge thank you to Amy and Cara from yLead for an informative training session and Melbourne High School for hosting us. 

Hashim Navas

SRC Representative