This week, seven boys from various year groups traveled to Wellington College to partake in the seventh annual Festival of Leadership and Junior Leadership Challenge Day.
On Monday 4 December, a handful of our pupils spent the day at Wellington College to take part in a series of challenges and attend two keynote addresses. Among these addresses was a discussion on contemporary youth leadership issues, and learning how to lead through social action.
Below are the reports provided by Year 10 Ethan Overton and Year 11 Bobby Howard-Jones, who among other pupils of Shiplake, attended the Festival of Leadership.
"We started the day by arriving 30 minutes early, as we could not wait to start what was going to be a great day. The activities that a few others and I took part in were capture the flag, and the low ropes. Capture the flag got our adrenaline going, but the low row ropes on the other hand made good use our newly acquired leadership skills to complete certain tasks. The instructors were very encouraging and made sure that every single person participated in every activity. All in all, a great way to start the week."
E.O.
"Julian Thomas, the Wellington College Headmaster, welcomed us and talked to us about success in life and where leadership can take you. Shortly after, we were addressed by Ben Getley, an ex-pupil of Wellington College. He told us how to be a leader and highlighted the five key points to being a successful leader. This talk was interesting because it taught us that a successful leader requires courage and commitment.
After our introduction, we had an activity similar to Dragons’ Den. This activity was linked to Wellington’s Global Social Leaders Society; we had to think of an idea that would benefit the development of the world. This task was setting us up for a competition about sustainable development goals. Next, we had lunch followed by a talk to the Wellington college projects. We talked to them about problems and circumstances in our different colleges and schools. It was really interesting to learn how to deal with centre circumstances and different problems in colleges and how to resolve them. To finish the day off we talked about our Dragons’ Den project to the whole group."
B.H-J.
Also in attendance were Dan Coles, Year 7, Louis Poundall, Year 8, Year 9 pupil Wallace Fisher, Josh Howard of Year 12 and Year 13 Pupil Tom Howlett. Our boys were among 120 pupils from Year 7 to Year 13 students from across the country. The boys will now work toward implementing their skills and will enter The Telegraph’s Festival of Education Competition in June of next year. A good day was had by all, and the boys should be able to use their newfound leadership skills in day-to-day aspects of their lives.
