Leadership training during high school

Life Orientation (LO):  We are very fortunate that a fair amount of what our students do in Life Orientation over the five years of high school is intentionally linked in as many ways as possible to promoting the sort of leadership we are hoping for in our student leaders. The first Learning Outcome in every grade in LO is Personal Well-being which is, in essence, self-awareness and self-leadership, or as we emphasise, self-management.

Academic: Many subjects embrace teamwork and the opportunity for students to develop leadership skills through projects or class tasks. Where appropriate, teachers also use opportunities within subjects to discuss leadership models as seen in historical, political and business examples.

Extramurals: We actively promote leadership roles in extramural activities such as captaincy of a sports team or opportunities to take initiative and head projects, service opportunities and cultural activities.

Service: An important standard we insist on is learning to lead wisely and compassionately while developing a keener knowledge of oneself through offering to serve others and initiate, lead and complete service projects in the broader community. We encourage every student to complete at least 10 hours of community or outreach service each year and insist that a student completes a minimum of 40 hours of such service to be eligible for the Leadership Programme.

Grade camps: There is much to be gained from being taken out of one’s comfort zone, put together in activity groups and made to experience different and often challenging situations. At the annual grade camps students learn much about themselves and group dynamics and about being both a leader and a follower. Every grade has a grade camp with a significant leadership component.

External training opportunities: The opportunity for Dainfern College students to attend external leadership training courses is invaluable. Here they are exposed to students from other schools, debates around leadership philosophy and practice, and a variety of specialist speakers. We regularly interact with organisations that provide these courses and make them available to our students.