GRIP Gold Newsletter Summer 2013

GRIP

GOLD MEMBER NEWSLETTER

SUMMER 2013

Amazing Stories From Students We Worked with in 2013 Pages 2-3

4 Quick Ways to Review the Effectiveness of Your Student Leaders This Year Pages 6-7

INSIDE THIS ISSUE OF THE NEWSLETTER Who Should Chair a Leadership Meeting?

Page 5

GRIP Leading & Teaching Conference Page 8

Amazing Stories From Students We Worked with in 2013 Bridging the Gap Between Year Groups An excerpt from Lilly, a Student Leader at St Columba Anglican School

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t the GRIP Leadership conference we set a goal of “bridging the gap between year groups.” To achieve this we set up a year level representatives program. Each year level from 7-11 now have two representatives that join the Year 12 leaders at every second students leaders meeting.

Rather than the SLC just being a “thing for year 12”, the whole school is more aware of their ability to make change within the school.

Year representatives have allowed Year 12 leaders to understand the issues in the younger years. They bring new perspectives into the meetings that allow for a deeper understanding of the core issues facing the school.

We also conducted a school social to integrate the year groups instead of separating them. Everyone dressed up and it was a great success. We are currently organising a fundraiser called “SCAS idol” to showcase the talents of the school. The younger year groups now feel they have

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a voice in how the school is run. They also think that the seniors value their opinion. Rather than the SLC just being a “thing for year 12”, the whole school is more aware of their ability to make change within the school. I think we have also changed the way younger years view the seniors, we have become less “scary” and more approachable. This ultimately achieves our goal of promoting communication between the year groups. Overall, it has made a positive difference in the school culture and fostered relationships between year groups.

I think we have achieved our goal to a high extent- we have certainly left a legacy for an overall cohesion in the school.

The program is going to be carried on by the incoming leadership team. The role of the SLC also has changed to become a more integrated part of the school culture.

Our Anti-Bullying Campaign!

An excerpt from Helena, the female School Captain at Wagga Wagga High School

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e achieved heaps of new initiatives which were helped by your GRIP Leadership strategies!

One of our initiatives was an anti bullying campaign to support the national anti-bullying week. We gathered the whole SRC to focus on this idea.

We showed the SRC a video we found on the internet from a school in America and told them we wanted to make something like this featuring using our students to make it more personal. Whilst the Captains and SRC organised the making of the video we also chose to use other students giving them a connection to the video too. Zach our male captain edited the video and it can be seen on youtube at: http://youtu.be/tkZnTutpWeY.

Our SRC designed a poster with our anti-bullying message which we copied and put up around the school. Like other schools, we chose one day that week and dressed in orange as a silent stand against bullying.

With the help of our welfare teacher each student wrote their feelings or experiences about bullying on a piece of orange paper anonymously. They were displayed on notice boards and walls around the school. During the Friday the captains played music through the speakers and we selected cards which we thought were inspiring and read them over the loud speaker. Lots of kids were standing around reading the cards and discussing them which was great to see! The week was very powerful and inspiring and showed how we can do something about bullying! The evening news even did a story to cover our activities!

Stand Up Against Bullying

The video was shown at a school assembly accompanied by a speech by the Captains reinforcing the message. The Captains and SRC members linked the video over the next few weeks in their Facebook status to remind everyone that the stand against bullying doesn’t just stop at the end of anti-bulling week.

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follow us on instagram @gripleadership Below are some of the pictures that our travelling team posted every few hours on Instagram during a recent tour for secondary school conferences in NSW, ACT and VIC.

Who Should Chair a Student Leadership Meeting?

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e all know that a pilot flies the plane and a captain steers the ship, but who should be the Chairperson of a student leader’s meeting?

When it comes to chairing a student leadership meeting the role is often approached differently. At some schools the teacher who supervises the student leaders prefers to chair the meeting. Another common option is for the school captains to take on this role whilst in other schools the role of chairperson is rotated through all of the student leaders over the course of the year. Sometimes it even feels like there is no chairperson!

When a school makes a decision for any one of the above processes there is normally good reason for it. Naturally a teacher will have more experience, a school captain is the leader of the team, or rotating the role allows for all students to have a turn at developing this valuable skill. All of these are valid reasons, but which one is best?

Like with many aspects of leadership, the best decision as to who should chair a meeting will vary depending on the school. Having observed many student leadership groups around Australia we have developed a list of considerations for you to reflect on when making the decision as to who will chair the student leader’s meetings at your school.

1. If a teacher chairs the meetings, be deliberate to ensure that students don’t leave all of the discussion and the follow-up tasks to the teacher

2. If a student chairs the meetings it works best for them to have a quick discussion with the teacher before and after the meeting 3. If a student chairs the meetings it is helpful for the teacher to be present and perhaps even contribute as part of the team 4. If you are keen to rotate the role it is best to allow a student to chair all meetings in a month or a term to give them a more substantial experience and provide consistency to the team (even if this means few students have the opportunity) 5. A consistent format and the use of agenda templates and minute taking will help a student leader run a productive meeting 6. It is wise for a teacher to chair the first one or two meetings in order to demonstrate the chairperson’s role to the group To summarise, it is well and truly possible for a student leader to chair a meeting, but if you allow them to sink or swim they will usually sink! The role of the teacher is to help the student chairperson swim but providing the example, a solid structure, and consistent support and feedback.

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4 Quick Ways to Review the Effectiveness of Your Student Leaders This Year W

ith the school year coming to a close, it may be valuable to do a quick review of the effectiveness of your student leaders. This process will hopefully reinforce the successes of the year and also reveal anything that could be tweaked for next year. Whether your school has a small or large group of student leaders, there are four quick indicators of effective student leadership.

1. Needs have been met.

Throughout the past year, did the student leaders at your school focus on meeting the needs of others and the school? Or did they simply do only what they personally found interesting or entertaining? Student leaders that make a difference are those who turn their attention to the needs of the students, the school and the community, not just their own. A simple way to determine how effective the student leaders at your school were this year is to determine whether they focussed on things that were really needed. Did they take time to identify these? Some might have gone under the radar, and may never truly be revealed until later. Many of the people that have had the biggest influence haven’t done it out in the open, but diligently focussed on improving the well being of others.

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2. Students have been involved.

4. A legacy has been left.

Running events and projects is a common function of student leaders. From idea generation to the outworking of those ideas, student leaders are tasked with finding new and creative ways to get more students involved. A simple way to determine whether or not they were successful in this area is to ask, “Were there more students involved than last year?” If more students participated in the various events run throughout the year, then this suggests that they were effective. If not, one possible reason is that they may not have focussed on the first point of meeting the needs of others.

Have the student leaders contributed to the school or community in one significant way that has changed the way people do things or view things? If so, it could be said that the leadership team has left a legacy. If you cannot determine one major contribution the student leaders have made throughout the year, it does not necessarily mean that they were ineffective.

3. Student leaders have taken initiative and ownership of their role.

Whenever the student leaders were asked to run an event, get involved with projects or build relationships with other students, did a teacher continually need to remind them of their responsibilities? Did a teacher continually have to complete the various tasks that the student leaders should have been doing? If you answered yes to either of these questions, perhaps there is some improvement that you can try and encourage in next year’s student leaders.

Student leaders who take initiative are those who use their own creativity and work with others to come up with new and innovative ideas. They don’t simply perform odd jobs and wait to be asked to volunteer; they continually look for ways to meet the needs of others. Were the student leaders at your school proactive or reactive? Students who take ownership of their role at school are those who put their ideas into practice, instead of waiting for someone else to do it for them. This is a great sign of effective leadership.

One way that student leaders continue to leave a legacy at school is in the area of school culture. The different views, attitudes, customs and overall language towards the school determine the culture. “The way we do things around here” is a common saying for helping describe culture. If the student leaders at your school influenced the school culture in a positive way, whether by changing something small or creating it from scratch, that is a great legacy for future students to continue to build in the following years.

If you can tick the box for all four of these areas, then the student leaders at your school have definitely been effective this year. If the student leaders were not particularly successful in one or all of these areas, then perhaps use these four areas as a starting point for the student leaders when developing goals for the 2014 school year.

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grip LEADING & TEACHING A conference For Educators

2014 Topic: Good to Great A new way of viewing leadership...

“The GRIP team presented a thought-provoking and inspirational day. I am returning to my school re-charged with a new way of viewing leadership.”

Dianne Cowderoy, Sherwood Ridge PS So many practical applications...

“An excellent program, it’s not very often you come across a PD that has so many practical applications.

Well worth attending. Thank you.”

Louise Judge, St Stephens School The ‘GRIP Leading & Teaching Conference’ was launched in 2013 to provide a fresh approach to leadership professional development for educators. After an enormously successful series of events, a brand new program has been developed for 2014 based on the research of Jim Collins and his work ‘Good to Great.’

“We don’t have great schools, principally because we have good schools... few people attain great lives, in a large part because it is just so easy to settle for a good life. The vast majority of schools, companies and people never become great, precisely because the vast majority become quite good – and that is their main problem... The good is the enemy of the great. This is not just a business problem. It is a human problem”. (Jim Collins, 2001)

What we will investigate at this conference

This year’s GRIP Leading & Teaching Conference will investigate how a ‘good school’ becomes a ‘great school’.

Whether you are an experienced principal or a first year teacher, you can easily apply the principles from this conference to your school, your leadership and your students!

Being held at 9 locations in 2014 (All events 9am-3.30pm) 16th June – Launceston TAS 17th June – Melbourne VIC 18th June – Canberra ACT 19th June – Sydney NSW 20th June – Newcastle NSW 23rd June – Mackay QLD 24th June – Brisbane QLD 26th June – Adelaide SA 27th June – Perth WA

Cost

Regular Ticket: $250 per person GRIP Gold Member Schools: $100 per person* Cost Includes course fee, catering, materials. *Max 4 people per school at discounted price.

If you are not sure whether your school is a ‘GRIP Gold’ member then ask our team!

Register now at www.gripleadership.com.au/leadingandteaching