GRIPGOLD MEMBER NEWSLETTER

INSIDE THIS ISSUE OF THE NEWSLETTER

TERM 1 2014

Taking Professional Development for Teachers to the Next LevelPages 6-7

How Parents Can Help Their Students to be a School LeaderPage 3

GRIP Student Leadership ConferencePage 8

Choosing a CharityPages 4-5

Below are photos that our travelling team posted every few hours on Instagram during our current tour for primary and secondary school conferences in Queensland.

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How Parents Can Help their Child to be a school leader

If you are reading this and you are a parent then that’s excellent! If you are a school student reading this then print this out and then hand

it to mum or dad with a cup of tea or coffee. If they can sit down and read this for a few minutes then it could be very helpful for both of you.

In our work with almost 100,000 students around Australia we have discovered that those students selected for leadership responsibilities often posses a similar group of characteristics. Of course, leaders each have their own personal strengths, but there are some common traits we have noticed. Very often, these traits are things that are not related only to their formal education, they are characteristics that are fostered at home.

When reflecting on the many student leaders we have worked with we have identified six tips which we believe will assist parents in helping their child to be a school leader:

Don’t talk to your child about leadership positions,

talk about leadership opportunities.

Encourage your child to be involved in everything.

Encourage your child to solve problems.

Help your child with their presentation skills.

Do community service with your child.

Encourage your child to ‘take responsibility’.

To read more about these six tips you can download a FREE GUIDE that we have written for parents… packed with practical ways to implement these ideas at home. Download the guide at www.gripsocial.com.au/free-resource.

We are not suggesting that by following a few simple steps your child will be chosen as the school captain. We firmly believe that ‘being chosen’ should not be the goal of any leader, rather that, by serving and contributing in a school community your child will develop life-long leadership skills. Some students will be chosen for roles, some will not… but this should never be what matters.

The purpose of the free guide we have published is to pass on what we have observed and learnt to parents who have a keen interest in supporting their son or daughter in this area.

Download this frEE guide atwww.gripsocial.com.au/free-resource

at a recent conference I was asked by a student leader whether I could recommend a good charity that they could support through the fundraising project that they were about to embark on. This question took me a little by surprise because it felt to me like they were organising their process in the wrong order.

It turns out that they were very keen to hold a fundraising concert. What would they fundraise for? They didn’t know yet. We can therefore assume that holding a concert must be their primary objective. I don’t want to sound critical of these students, because I am a firm believer that student leaders should set out to do more than purely raise money. This group obviously had their own reasons for believing that the concert would be beneficial for their students, and knew that it also had potential to raise money for needy people outside their school.

In relation to their specific question about a recommended charity... I thought best not to answer the question by naming a specific charity. Rather I suggested some ways in which the students could identify a suitable charity themselves. Choosing the right charity for your school appears to be essential in gaining maximum participation. Failure to choose the ideal charity can result in very little money being collected and can sadly draw criticism. Through further observation of how many schools choose a charity to support I have identified five things to consider when making this decision for your fundraising projects.

As you go through this list, endeavour to choose a charity that will meet between three and five of these characteristics.

Choosing a

one of the big keys to student leadership successBy Ronan McGinniss

4  GRIP GOLD MEMBER Newsletter

1. a Charity aligned with school History

Choosing a charity aligned with school history will be a different process for every school, but if you can achieve this it will help the broader student body understand why this charity has been chosen. Things to consider could include; whether your school is named after a patron that is linked to a charity, whether a past staff member or student is significantly involved in a charity or for many private schools finding out whether the school was founded by an organisation that does charitable work.

2. a Charity aligned with school Values

Choosing a charity aligned with a core school value helps you reinforce this value as part of the culture of the school. Contributing to this charity gives the student body a practical way to be involved in living out this value. Matching a list of core values (or the school motto) to the values or motto of a charity will help you align in this way.

3. a Charity with inspiring stories

I am still amazed when I hear some students tell me that they have no idea what their fundraising goes towards. They may have heard the name of the charity but often know little about the impact their money will have on other people’s lives. Choose a charity that provides photos, videos and stories that you can share at assemblies with the whole student body. Kingsway Christian College recently told me that they find it effective to support one particular charity through almost all of their fundraisers. Students from the school regularly visit the charity to meet the people involved and be immersed among the success stories that the charity creates every day.

4. a Charity with a Connection to a recent situation

Whether it be a recent international disaster or a current local issue, it seems that students are more willing to participate in fundraising that goes toward an immediate need. On a more personal level, is there a member of the school community that has recently suffered a tragedy, difficulty or serious illness of some kind? Choosing a charity that helps people in similar situations will tap into the personal connection that students might have developed toward

that cause.

5. a Charity of which students are already aware

I am not suggesting that the primary consideration is to support the large charities that also enjoy support from countless other donors. There is much to like about the idea of using the previous four suggestions to select a small but important charity in which your school can become a significant part of their work. However, in observing the charities chosen by many schools it seems that students respond positively to charities that I like to call ‘celebrity charities.’ These are the charities that are on television, billboards and have become household names, much like a

celebrity. It appears that when fundraising for these charities is undertaken at school there is always a proportion of students that immediately flock towards the initiative much like they might to a celebrity.

I expect that many people reading this will be able to use these five points as a checklist to somewhat reinforce that the charities you already support are indeed excellent choices. For others, I hope that this helps you in your fundraising efforts and in drawing out the very best in the students you lead.

Choosing the right charity

for your school appears to

be essential in gaining maximum

participation.

Newsletter GRIP GOLD MEMBER 5

taking Professional Development for teachers to the next level

we are always delighted when teachers accompany their students to a GRIP Student Leadership Conference and at the end of the day walk out with a genuine spring in their step stating, “I

got as much out of today as the students did!” Others have thanked us at the end of the day and suggested, “You should run days like this just for teachers.”

So we have! Our new annual conference for educators is called the ‘GRIP Leading and Teaching Conference’. In 2013 we trialed this event running a handful of conferences, attended by over 400 teachers. After the success of this experiment we made the decision to create a brand new program each year and make the GRIP Leading and Teaching Conference an annual event.

We set out to make this conference for educators exponentially different to other professional development days by building the day on three key factors:

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 Cowderoysherwood ridge Ps, sydney

6  GRIP GOLD MEMBER Newsletter

griP lEaDing & tEaCHinga ConfErEnCE for EDuCators

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

BEing HElD at 9 loCations in 2014

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, Perth

1. wide Variety of ParticipantsMany teachers are familiar with the normal model of attending PD days with others from the same school, the same system, the same teaching specialty or the same experience level. However, this conference brings together teachers and educators of all ages and school types. Because the focus of this conference is on leadership principles that run deeper than any single context much can be learned by sharing with other educators from entirely different settings.

2. Practical and interactiveRound table seating, guided discussions and opportunities for participant input create an environment of conversation and interaction. The casual atmosphere and relaxed style of our presentations provide plenty of opportunities for accompanying the content with a few good laughs.

3. focussing on unique ConceptsThis conference is not the place for exploring statistics, legislation, current jargon or fads. Each year the conference program will consist of a single theme that introduces new thoughts and practical application to enable teachers to genuinely increase their own leadership capacity as well as that of their students.

The 2014 GRIP Leading and Teaching Conference is themed ‘Good to Great’ and is based on the research and publications of Jim Collins. Full details about conference sessions and online registration are available at www.gripleadership.com.au.

register

today!

New South Wales Sydney (Option #1) 26th Feb 14 Sydney (Option #2) 22nd May 14 Armidale 5th May 14 Tamworth 6th May 14 Moree 7th May 14 Coffs Harbour 8th May 14 Tweed / Coolangatta 9th May 14 Forster 12th May 14Dubbo 19th May 14Bathurst 20th May 14 Newcastle 21st May 14 Wollongong 23rd May 14 Wagga Wagga 27th May 14 Albury / Wodonga 28th May 14South AustraliaAdelaide 24th Mar 14 Mount Gambier 1st May 14 Port Augusta 30th May 14VictoriaMelbourne 6th Mar 14Sale 28th Apr 14 Ballarat 29th Apr 14 Bendigo 30th Apr 14 Wodonga / Albury 28th May 14 Mildura 29th May 14

QueenslandBrisbane 27th Feb 14 Cairns 10th Feb 14 Townsville 13th Feb 14 Gladstone 17th Feb 14 Mackay 18th Feb 14 Bundaberg 18th Feb 14 Emerald 19th Feb 14 Nambour 19th Feb 14 Rockhampton 20th Feb 14 Toowoomba 21st Feb 14 Coolangatta / Tweed 9th May 14Western AustraliaPerth 11th Mar 14 Geraldton 13th Mar 14 Esperance 18th Mar 14 Albany 19th Mar 14 Bunbury 20th Mar 14TasmaniaHobart 1st Apr 14Burnie 2nd Apr 14Launceston 3rd Apr 14Australian Capital TerritoryCanberra 26th May 14 Northern TerritoryDarwin 4th Mar 14

PrimarYNew South Wales Sydney (Option #2) 25th Feb 14 Australian Capital TerritoryCanberra (Option #2) 24th Feb 14VictoriaMelbourne 7th Mar 14 South AustraliaAdelaide 25th Mar 14 Western AustraliaPerth 10th Mar 14 Geraldton 14th Mar 14 Bunbury 21st Mar 14

QueenslandBrisbane 28th Feb 14 Cairns 11th Feb 14 Townsville 12th Feb 14 Mackay 17th Feb 14 Toowoomba 20th Feb 14 Rockhampton 21st Feb 14TasmaniaHobart 31st Mar 14 Launceston 4th Apr 14Northern TerritoryDarwin 3rd Mar 14

sEConDarY

2014 Conference Dates

register now at www.gripleadership.com.au

loCk tHis YEar’s ConfErEnCE DatEinto Your CalEnDar!

GRIp STUDENT LEaDERSHIp cONFERENcE