Fostering Leadership Through Service, Charity, and Justice

Ten of our student leaders had the privilege of attending the Anglican Schools Network Group Student Leadership Workshop at Walford Anglican School for Girls. The day was filled with collaboration, communication, and commitment, as our students represented St Peter’s Woodlands with pride and enthusiasm.

Amidst a gathering of 120 students from 11 different Anglican schools, ranging from Year 6 to Year 12, what could have been an overwhelming experience was instead embraced with courage and teamwork. Together, they explored future leadership goals through the lenses of service, charity, and justice.

One of the central themes of the workshop was poverty — what it means, its causes, and how it often stems from broken or absent relationships. The students engaged in deep discussions about the role of friendship in combating poverty, considering what it means to be a good friend and how service can be an expression of friendship.

The conversation then broadened to global charity, examining its far reaching positive effects and reflecting on how charity manifests within our own school community. They questioned whether they, as leaders, had a strong sense of justice and how that could be further developed within the school.

Throughout the day, the students shared insights about their respective schools’ leadership efforts in service, charity, and justice. They identified areas for action and assessed the impact of their leadership initiatives. After these rich discussions, each school group reconvened to evaluate what they do well and what could be improved. The day concluded with the creation of an “elevator pitch” for leadership in action, which was shared with the entire group.

Our students returned inspired, having gained valuable insights and a renewed commitment to leadership rooted in service, charity, and justice.

Since then, these students have met with our Business Director, David Brock in the Boardroom to pitch their thinking around addressing accessibility at SPW. Mr Brock shared the process of planning for infrastructure developments and some history of this at SPW. He was impressed with the knowledge the students had and their solutions focussed proposal. The students understood that they would not be at SPW to see the developments they proposed but expressed their desire to want to ensure they leave the school in a more accessible way for the SPW students, staff and families of the future.

Mr Brock will now share their pitch at the next School Council Planning meeting.

It was a privilege to facilitate this experience and hear and see student voice and agency in action. This group of leaders understand the value of their thinking and the impact their actions can have on making our world a kinder place.

Article by Mrs Sarah Noell, Deputy Principal and Head of Early Years