Currently in Northern Victoria something special is happening in Education.
Since 2019, 6 schools from 3 different sectors (state, catholic and private) have committed to a yearly High-Performance Leadership Program for their staff, to help sharpen their leadership skills.
The schools involved in this program include Marymede Catholic College, Mernda Central College, Ivanhoe Grammar, Parade College, Hazel Glen, Plenty Valley Christian College.
This program is designed to help improve leadership capacity of the staff members involved and empower them to genuinely enact positive developments within their classrooms, departments, and wider school network. It consists of 5 programs days over 6 months and is facilitated by Leading Teams facilitator Aaron Rogers. Some of the participants described the course as inspiring, empowerment and a great chance to build connections within the education sector.
We recently celebrated the 60 staff who have been through the program so far. We gathered them together for a dinner and a chance to connect with one another. Our 2021 cohort was exclusively online during to COVID restrictions so for that group it was their first-time meeting in person.
The principals of the schools involved have committed to making an on-going investment in this program. It is a great example of them living their network’s purpose which is, ‘we exist to improve education for our students in the North.’
Principal of Hazel Glen College, Anthony Stockwell spoke during the evening and said that this program was ‘one of the things he is most proud of during this time in this role.’ Having schools that are commitment to on-going collaboration to help improve education in their region will have huge on-going benefits for all involved.
Especially for the over 10,000 students who attend the 6 schools, whilst the program isn’t directly for them the flow on positive effects will mean that their families and them will benefit greatly.
We hope to see programs like this occur in other regions in education and different industries around Australia. Sharing of knowledge and leadership skills is not something usually done but we have seen that is can only enhance the performance of individuals and teams.
