The seminars involve a day of reflection which encourages students - who are about to undertake voting and selection for leadership positions within the schools - to consider modelling their leadership on the leadership of Jesus Christ.
The students also learned about the type of leader Jesus was – and each student made a commitment to carry out one specific action before Christmas that would see each of them lead like Jesus.
The day has a key role to play in helping to place a Catholic lens on leadership and getting students to think about leadership in a manner other than a popularity contest so the day began with an Acknowledgment of Country, highlighting the importance of the respect, before moving into prayer and reflection on leadership as a service to the community and others.
Students were encouraged to think about world, national and local leaders as they also spent time discussing the value of teamwork and playing a game called The Journey of Life.
A panel of teachers, chosen from among those in attendance, spent time answering questions from the students about their roles, about leadership and about the qualities of leadership - Prayer, Service and Relationship.
The one-day seminar is repeated over eight consecutive days with the ultimate aim being to shift student’s understanding of leadership from that of a role to that of service - to individuals, to their school and to others in the wider community.
The Young Leaders program began eight years ago as a day specifically for elected school leaders within the Diocese.
Schools saw that the day was also a great opportunity for students from different schools within the Diocese to mingle and work together.
Schools also made the focus of the Young Leaders program not only on those students who will take on leadership roles but on all students within next year’s Year 6 cohort.
