By Geoffrey Stanford, Headmaster at Newcastle Royal Grammar School
I recently had the privilege of speaking to our incoming Student Leadership Team at the Royal Grammar School, Newcastle as part of a training day that aimed to give them an understanding of what leadership entails and how to exercise it effectively.
In doing so, I reflected on what I had learnt from the variety of my own leadership experiences starting from when I was at school, through serving in the army, leading Himalayan mountaineering expeditions, working in business and most recently in education.
The intention of the day was to ensure that our student leaders are well prepared for their roles as no leader gets everything right first time and leadership is a learned skill that can be developed through practice. Too often, however, organisations do not invest enough in developing their leaders so, for similar reasons, over the last few years we have also been developing our Middle Leaders training programme for staff. Interestingly, it was recently pointed out to me by an Ofsted inspector that the inspection framework for maintained sector schools includes no explicit expectation of pupil leadership. In contrast, the equivalent inspection framework for independent schools makes two clear references to pupils taking “leadership in their learning” and having opportunities “to experience and develop independence, responsibility and leadership.”
While there are many other factors in play, this disparity of explicit expectation may go some way to explaining why independent school alumni are disproportionately represented in public life. At the RGS, our vision statement includes the aim of inspiring young people to make a positive impact in society.
Within this statement, there is an implicit expectation that pupils will step up to positions of responsibility and leadership. Many of our alumni have done just that, some in very high-profile roles and many others quietly behind the scenes as unsung heroes.
Looking ahead, we are also consciously starting to link leadership attributes to each of the four pillars of our ethos: sense of belonging translates to leadership by example and understanding the power of role modelling; love of learning includes leaders being reflective and analytical about leadership in order to develop both themselves and others; the belief in each other means leaders should be inclusive, collaborative and build great teams; and the ambition to succeed relates to influencing teams and ensuring outstanding achievement.
While serving as a Prefect, a Head of House, a team captain, or perhaps taking a command appointment in the cadet force are clearly roles for young people to practice leadership, these may not suit every child and there are many other opportunities for children to show leadership in schools.
At the RGS, we are currently reviewing how all children can systematically be given opportunities to lead at every level of their school experience. This will allow us to be deliberate in ensuring, not only that they have the opportunity to practice leadership but also to be well prepared for it and to reflect on what they have learnt from the experience too.
I often say that our academic results should be the consequence of a good education, not the purpose of it. Similarly, because of their experiences in school, we also want all our students to develop the confidence to take opportunities and be able to step up to positions of leadership. They should recognise how to build cohesive teams, develop individuals and achieve purposeful tasks. Most importantly, in whatever role they take on, they should understand that they have a responsibility to do a good job in the service of others.