Suffolk Pupils Leadership Conference - 6 Oct 2022

RHS hosted the Suffolk Pupils’ Leadership Conference.  Our own pupil leadership team welcomed selected senior pupils from County Upper School, Felixstowe Academy, Ipswich School, Samuel Ward Academy and Thomas Gainsborough School.   

Aims

The day started with icebreaker activities in mixed teams to improve communication skills, followed by ‘Talking Heads Scenarios’, designed to develop decision making and judgement in leadership.  A business lunch with leaders from Dory Brothers Shipping Agency, Beckett Investment Management Group and Larking Gowen allowed pupils to interact with key leaders in business, included a hugely inspiring talk about Leadership in 2022 by Justine Roberts, founder and chief executive of Mumsnet.   

A “The Apprentice” style task was the afternoon’s challenge. Pupils were tasked in teams to design a motto, advert and video for their school, which was then presented to the business leaders for feedback.  

Deputy Headmaster at RHS comments; “It was a pleasure to host the first event of this kind at RHS.  I was delighted by how quickly and effectively the pupils from all of the schools were able to work together all day; by the passion they showed for their schools and by the thoughtful and mature manner in which they discussed some challenging issues.  The quality of videos produced in such a short time was particularly impressive and I am confident that even Lord Sugar himself would have been unable to find anyone to fire!” 

Oliver Woods, Deputy Head boy at RHS really enjoyed the day, commenting; "The activities were really challenging and made us work effectively as a team. We all learnt that a good leader doesn't just take charge but recognises their teammates' strengths and encourages them. We are really grateful to all the business leaders who took time out of their schedules and inspired us during the day, particularly Mrs Roberts from Mumsnet, who gave some really good insight into being an effective leader in today's world."