On Thursday 12 February, our Year 6 students took part in the ‘Leadership in Action’ program as part of a year-long inquiry into leadership. Across the year, students will explore and strengthen the core TKS values of Achievement, Respect, Responsibility, Resilience, Care and Empathy, through a variety of engaging excursions and incursions. The program is designed to inspire and empower students by providing meaningful, real-world experiences that nurture their personal growth and leadership development.
The first ‘Leadership in Action’ session of the year focused on leadership of self. All Year 6 Students took part in an engaging incursion titled Maps & Mayhem, presented by Supreme Incursions, along with a range of hands-on activities. These experiences were designed to strengthen essential leadership skills, including building self-awareness, increasing self-motivation, practising positive self-talk, and learning to focus on what they can control.
Our Year 6 Community Captains, Arvin Wijayasinha and Shania Perera, shared reflections on one of the activities they participated in:
“My personal favourite activity was the balloon game. The aim of the activity was to see how efficiently we could gather 42 balloons with our names written on them, and they were scattered in a hallway. It seemed simple enough; however, the problem was that everyone was trying to get their own balloon and there was a lot of bumping, nudging and confusion. This approach of finding your own balloon made the process very slow. We then repeated the activity but this time we were asked to pick up any balloon and hand it to the person whose name was on it. We ended up getting everyone’s balloons much faster because we weren’t worried about whose balloon it was, we just grabbed the first balloon. The reason I enjoyed this activity was because of the difference (which was very noticeable) of when people worked together rather than acting a little bit selfish. The activity developed our kindness and teamwork.”
~ Arvin
“One activity that taught me new leadership skills was a simple one that required just two people and a stick. The game aimed to move the stick up and down about 10 to 15cm off the ground as many times as possible, with one person on each side using only one finger. It was harder than it seemed because we had to stay completely silent the whole time, and each round we used a different stick. The first stick was long and smooth, the second was shorter and harder to control, and the final one was short with one smooth end and one pointy end. We had to switch ends every four sets, so it was fair.
Usually, people think of leadership skills as empathy or honesty, but this activity taught me something different, which I will call consideration. You had to think about your partner’s ability and how fast they could move. If one person was sportier, they had to lower their level so both could succeed. Overall, the simple stick game taught me valuable leadership skills, and Year 6 had a good time that day.”
~ Shania
We look forward to watching our Year 6 students continue to grow in confidence, capability and character as they lead with purpose throughout the year.
