Program for mid secondary students

Below is an example of a multi-term program New River staff run with mid secondary students. For further information please contact us.

Making A Difference: Year 9 / mid secondary students

Whether or not young people see themselves as leaders…

they CAN exercise leadership and make a positive difference!

  Making a Difference is a three-term program for Year 9 / mid secondary students, designed to give them the opportunity to explore their unique potential. Based on research encompassing positive psychology, community development and effective and sustainable leadership, the program provides a combination of workshops, group projects and self directed learning to maximise the positive outcomes for both the students and the school.

MAKING A DIFFERENCE: Program Summary

Term 1 – Lead with Your Strengths Through a series of creative activities and reflections, students:

• Refine their ideas about ‘leadership’?
• Discover the leadership strengths they bring that they can draw upon.
• Explore their sense of purpose and things that matter to them. What would they like to see happen at school? In their lives?

Term 2 – Thrown Together: An opportunity to make a difference in our school Students work in teams on something they want to see happen at school and explore what it might mean to use their leadership strengths together. In these projects students:

• Explore what they have to offer.
• Discover the value of working in teams.
• Grow belief in their ability to make a difference.

Term 3 – Lead with Your Life Again through a series of creative activities students:

• Reflect on the experiences of Term 2.
• Apply what they have learnt to other aspects of their lives.
• Explore the complexity of change.
• Learn in the area of mentoring/mutual support.

In subsequent years: Beyond this program students can:

• Act as mentors for younger students as they participate in the project.
• Explore leadership as senior students.
• Be part of a module on exercising leadership in times of change or challenge.

Contact Us

For more information about the practicalities of implementing these processes in your context, please contact us. We have a range of materials available that will help you understand what we do and how we do it in much more detail. New River staff are available to visit your context to share our stories and explore possibilities. Please contact us.