Different Styles of Leadership: Student Leadership Conference

On 29 and 30 April Year 12 student leaders from across the Haberdashers’ family of schools were invited to visit Haberdashers’ Hall, to network with members and receive leadership training from a variety of experts. Part of the Character strand of the Haberdashers’ Advantage programme, the aim was for students to walk away with increased confidence and a vision for their year as a student leader. We also sought to provide opportunities for student leaders to meet each other, and build a community of support across their schools.

We were pleased to open the event with an inspiring talk from Harshini Muthukrishnan, former Haberdashers’ Adams pupil and Blue Peter Presenter. Harshini shared her insights from her own time as a student leader, and gave advice on becoming a strong role model for peers and younger students. This was followed by a day of talks and workshops where students learnt the importance of understanding and being true to your values, how to influence through collaboration and civic responsibility. They also gained practical skills through teamworking activities (including a challenge to create a Lego model of Haberdashers Hall!), a body language workshop and working collaboratively to develop a plan to tackle daily challenges in school. This was all supported by the generous contributions of Haberdasher members and external speakers from a range of fields. 

When asked what they learnt students told us:

“How to get the respect of others, and inspire them to go out of their way to do something”

“I think collaboration is definitely important and something you have to consider. A team is only as good as its worst member.”

“To always look at the situation and take in account to put what is more important first.”

When asked what they will do differently students told us:

“I think it has taught me that you need to learn how do deal with different people and their different attributes. As a leader you have to work with all.”

“try and instil the importance of having one's own values and being guided by them – I think a lot of people tend to view values as virtue signalling when in reality they are really important in impacting the way you behave and the things you aim to achieve”

“I will try to ensure that I have time for people to come to me and listen to their ideas, but I will also ensure that I am able to get my ideas across”

Teachers who attended the day gave a rating of 5/5, with a 100% NPS. Comments included:

“Many thanks for providing this wonderful opportunity to students.”

“Overriding sense of compassionate nurturing. Fantastic children. Optimistic. Very informative.”

“Great, positive and relatable.”

“Outstanding. Blown away. It was incredible.”