The 2010 Leadership Training Day was held at the Outterside Centre at Abbotsford on the 19th of March. It was a great opportunity for the 2010 SRC along with the executives of the school’s Community Service Committee to bond and build a better relationship. The program was designed by Rising Generations and having attended the program in 2009, it was evident that the program had been refined and renewed for the better. The aim of the day was to build strong connections within the SRC, open up our minds to a new way of thinking and inspire us to lead and bring about much needed change in the school community.

The training incorporated a number of creative and engaging activities that enlightened us to the roles that as an SRC, we should look to fulfil. From viewing inspirational scenes from films, to working collectively to solve an escape path in a maze, the day included a number of activities that not only bonded the team together but presented to us, a better understanding of leadership.

The day also played an important role in outlining the path for the future and our aspirations for the year. From the planning, it was agreed that this year’s SRC would focus on the development of junior years, in providing them with responsibilities that will further enhance their involvement in actively voicing student concerns.

. In 2010, the SRC will make a commitment to promoting student participation, particularly through events such as the Talent Quest and Trivia Night which will be joint ventures with the Sydney Girls Student Representative Council. Also, the SRC will endeavour to voice the concerns of students in regards to specific issues and relay them back to the School Council, on which we hope to have representation again this year.

Special thanks must go to Mrs Collignon and Mr Cipolla for organising and running the day, together with Mr Walker, Mr Coan and Ms Kaye for their continual support of leadership initiatives, the SRC and Community Service Committee.
Samir Kinger – President (Yr 11) and
Isnad Zaman – Vice President (Yr 11)

The first regional SRC meeting of 2010 was hosted by Randwick Girls High on the 4th of March. It was the perfect start to the year with a variety of discussions, quality food and a great workshop kindly set up by Family Planning NSW. The main issue raised was discrimination of any kind in schools and how to raise awareness and tackle any such issues.

We were privileged enough to hear from two brave, same-sex attracted individuals who had suffered much discrimination and injustice during their high school years. Their stories were truly touching and gave students a new insight into tackling homophobia. They very much wished that their message be spread.

Isnad Zaman (11)
Vice President 2010

Each year the student body of Sydney Boys High School are given the opportunity to apply for an important leadership position on the school Student Representative Council. Applications involve students vowing that they will commit to the position and work hard throughout the year to represent their peers. Names of applicants from each year are submitted to an online voting site on the SBHS SRC website. Voting is preferential and not compulsory. As a result, six students are elected from each year to represent their peer/year group. These students are required to join committees on the council and attend regular Friday lunchtime meetings. If students fulfil their role satisfactorily with the committees they are part of throughout the year, they are honoured with a badge and may purchase an SRC tie.

In Term 4 2009, the SRC elected an executive (President, Vice President and Secretary) to run the meetings and give direction in 2010. The students elected online in Term 1 as committee members from Years 7-12 have recently been announced at the Junior and Senior Assemblies and printed by Dr Jaggar in the High Notes.

For a second year, the SRC together with the leaders of the Community Service committee will be part of a training day at the Outterside centre March 19th lead by a group named Rising Generations. A thank-you to Mr Walker (Head of Welfare), Mr Coan (Leadership Co-ordinator), Mr Cipolla (Careers Advisor) and Ms Kaye (Community Service facilitator) for helping me make this day possible for the boys.

The SRC gives students the opportunity to learn about group work, running meetings, working on committees, responsibility, commitment and leadership. SRC members get the opportunity to go to regional and state SRC meetings as well as a range of leadership development and motivational seminars. It is a council voted in by the students, run by the students for the students of Sydney Boys High. Mrs Collignon, Teacher facilitator, works alongside the SRC to help with elections, excursions, meetings and getting ideas off the ground.

Mrs Collignon

After a successful year in 2008 the SRC was looking to improve its effectiveness in school life in 2009. Thanks to MS Collignon we were taken on a training day hosted by Rising Generations at the Otterside Centre. The main goals for the day were to get to know everyone else in the SRC and learn effective ways of putting ideas into practice. The day included creative and unique experiences which enlightened us to the responsibilities of the SRC. We were presented tools allowing us to make the SRC more effective and efficient. We had many opportunities to exhibit and streamline our leadership techniques. One of the activities involved a simple objective of placing tennis balls and one blue ping pong ball in a bucket; a team of seven people, six blindfolded and one leader, tried to coordinate them to complete the activity. There were three scenarios, the first where all members were blindfolded and were not allowed to communicate, the second was where the leader was the only person not blindfolded however was still unable to communicate, the third was where the leader and his team were not blindfolded and allowed to communicate. This simple metaphor was intrinsic to the many activities taken throughout the day. We would like to thank Mrs Collignon and Mr Cohn for the wonderful day. We hope for an effective and productive SRC 2009.

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