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On Friday 15th June Future Foundations returned to Marlborough College to deliver our third consecutive  Leadership Day to around 250 Year 12 students drawn from the College and it’s state school partner Swindon Academy.  

The programme was course directed by Jason  with support from Future Foundations coaches; Amit , Terrance, Olivia, Jakub, Charanjit, Tamya, Tara, Mark, Henderson, Jennifer, Shane, Owen, Patrick and Flick.

The objectives of the Leadership day were to:

  • Prepare students for the transition from Lower to Upper Sixth
  • Encourage the students to take personal responsibility for their own learning, take academic and personal opportunities
  • Help students to identify life goals
  • Challenge students to find innovative solutions to school and local issues or opportunities to establish a culture of creativity, engagement and proactivity in the Sixth Form
  • Build students confidence, initiative, teamwork, pro-activity and commitment towards their vision through working together on team building tasks.

This was the second time Future Foundations have delivered training to a combined cohort of students from both Marlborough College and Swindon Academy, with great results. Mixing young people from State and Independent school backgrounds and putting together teams of students that hadn’t previously met created a fresh dynamic and challenged them all to step up their game.

Throughout the day students worked in small groups, each assigned to a dedicated coach, through a range of workshops designed to build their leadership skills and vision. Each session included experiential learning tasks to challenge them to work together and, through guided reflection understand better how they can put their leadership skills into practice beyond the classroom.

The day launched with a motivational plenary from the Course Director Jason, which was this year given in the beautiful Chapel, due to works being carried out in other areas of the College. This focused on setting the tone for the day and the themes of ‘Living Leadership’ and ‘Taking Opportunities’. The students then took part in their first team session, Self Leadership, in which they explored the importance of self-awareness and leadership in leading themselves and others. They were asked to ‘Raise the Bar’, a confusingly named activity in which they actually attempt to do the opposite and then strapped on blindfolds for a listening challenge involving rope and teamwork!

Following a short break teams reassembled for their next workshop, aptly named ‘Make it Happen’, a session that asks students to consider what issues affect them on a local and global scale and challenged to find an innovative solution. Young people are then given a planning and development framework to design their own social action project which answers an issue they have identified and feel passionate about changing in their local community.

After lunch the challenge continued as they entered their third workshop, which was based around SMART goal setting as a means to ensuring their project’s success. Students were invited to make use of the Future Foundations 30 Day Challenge app, a support tool to help participants to carry forward the energy and good intentions of the programme into their lives and achieve the goals they set themselves to complete over the next month.

The 30 Day Challenge is an effective and proven goal setting technique which breaks down larger goals into manageable daily steps for a month at a time. Participants choose something they want to do differently, commit to achieving it, one day at a time for a month, and receive support along the way.

In the final workshop participants explored what makes an effective Elevator Pitch and were challenged to present their project to the group in a limited time frame and provide constructive feedback for one another.

The day closed with a plenary from the Course Director to review the learning from the programme, watch a montage of photos taken over the day and reflect on their goals. We wish all students luck with their projects and the remaining days of their 30 Day Challenge, for those that haven’t yet signed up there is still time to kick start change in your life!

The group keenly identified different problems they wanted to tackle in their own school - ranging from littering to self-awareness seminars. They were enthusiastic and left ready to tackle these challenges head on!

Future Foundations Coach

If you are interested in bringing Future Foundations training to your school please contact us to explore how we can help your students to reach their full potential.

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