Hold the Front Page
24th November 2016
The student journalists preparing to report on a national conference have had their thoughts published on the organisation’s website.
The eight Year 10 and 11 Melbourn pupils will work alongside professional reporters to cover the opening day of the Schools, Students and Teachers Network (SSAT) annual conference in Birmingham next Thursday.
As part of their role in covering the event, which is entitled ‘Leading – Making the Impossible Possible’, the students were asked for their own thoughts on leadership.
Their insights on ‘What is leadership to you?’ ‘What are the values and principles of a good leader?’ and ‘Can anyone be a leader?’ are now available to read in full in the SSAT’s new on-line Student Supplement by clicking here.
Below is a selection of their thoughts to give a flavour of their work so far.
What is leadership to you?
To me, leadership is when someone can positively influence others to maximise their potential and work towards a goal by giving advice and guidance. A leader is someone who guides people rather than commands. Leadership is the act of inspiring others to better themselves and achieve a desired goal or result. It is about motivation and determination to help people with the same ideas and visions.
Emily West, Year 10
Leadership, to me, is when a person, or selection of people, successfully instruct or persuade a group of people to do something or change their thoughts about a subject. But this will only apply if the ‘leader’ sees themselves as a leader to those people; if they don’t believe they are a leader or they don’t believe they are leading those people successfully to their goal, they cannot be showing leadership.
Fred Close, Year 10
What are the value and principles of a good leader?
Some of the values of being a good leader are trust, confidence, and integrity. If a leader portrays confidence, it makes it easier to show trust with them. When a level of trust between the leader and those they are leading has been established, it will subsequently make it easier for them to make the right decisions to benefit the group. Integrity is about being honest and making value-based decisions that won’t necessarily benefit the leader as an individual but will create the best for everyone.
Olivia Greenaway, Year 10
In my opinion, a good leader has to have good communication and respect towards the rest of the group. They have to be able to take everybody’s opinions into consideration and not be biased.
Rose Pedge, Year 11
A good leader needs to be someone who is able to listen to the people they are leading. A leader should also stand out from those around them, in a way that if a new person should come into their community, they would feel safe and confident in going to talk to the leader and could clearly distinguish them from others around them.
John Hinton, Year 10
Can anyone be a leader?
With confidence and communication skills, everyone has the foundations of becoming a good leader. I don’t believe in the phrase ‘natural leader’; I think some people are more confident than others but they might not have the other qualities a leader needs and therefore, they must try to be a good leader instead of being ‘naturally’ good at it.
Emily Littlewood, Year 11
Many people are born with leadership skills; others have to learn to develop these skills. With the right passion and desire, anyone can learn to lead. Some, such as the monarchy, are born into leadership and they, if not already a natural leader, have to learn to have these characteristics.
Mary Yates, Year 10
I think that anyone can be a leader as long as that person has had suitable training and has the motivation to succeed. However, I feel that environmental factors, when growing up, can affect one’s ability to be an effective leader.
Daniel Arthur, Year 10
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