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This vision of leadership as being outward looking and making the world a better place is at the heart of all we do.
We are fortunate to have a Wellington Leadership and Coaching Institute (WLCI) at Wellington, founded eight years ago to research leadership and to design and deliver leadership and coaching training for pupils and staff from Wellington and across the world.
2018/2019 was an exciting year for the WLCI: coaching and leadership courses were delivered in Mozambique; there was a leadership programme for pupils in Johannesburg; a Heads of School Conference in Dublin; and our first ever Year 5 Young Leadership Festival involving 66 children rafting across the outdoor pool.
In October, having come back from a leadership training trip to Transylvania, our prefects led our 13th Annual Heads of College conference at Wellington. This saw over 100 head boys and girls, from 40 schools around the UK and Europe, coming together to share ideas about what makes an effective leader and the potential challenges faced when in a position of responsibility.
November saw 70 pupils battle the challenges of low ropes and team games as they learnt about the importance of kindness and values in leadership. This was run excellently by our Welly Leaders with an inspiring keynote speech from Will Greenwood about creating a culture of safety and looking out for one another.
Welly Leaders meet on Wednesday afternoons throughout the academic year to learn about the latest research on leadership, as well as running incredible festivals of leadership. They were also given the responsibility of leading sessions as part of the admissions process for Year 6 pupils considering coming to Wellington. They loved the enthusiasm and energy of the younger pupils and it was a real privilege to meet these aspiring Wellingtonians. The Welly Leaders also started a social action project involving a skills exchange with refugees in Oxfordshire. This vision of leadership as being outward looking and making the world a better place is at the heart of all we do.
For pupils both in and beyond Wellington, the highest impact work of the WLCI, has been Global Social Leaders (GSL). Global Social Leaders is a unique transformational leadership movement with a vision to create a global movement of socially conscious leaders. Since 2011 almost 6,000 young people in 83 different countries have participated in GSL programmes, many of which have been hosted by Wellington College and involved pupils from across the Wellington Family.
WLCI and our partners, Future Foundations, delivered a leadership stream at Ed Fest where we announced the winners of our Global Goals Competition. This competition saw young people create over 620 social action projects, spanning 83 different countries, each project linked to the UN Sustainable Development Goals. The atmosphere was incredible as we live streamed Mark Milliken-Smith (Governor at Wellington) announce the winning team from India. Do watch their video on our GSL website: https://www.globalsocialleaders.com/ggcompetition/ It is truly inspiring!
This summer, we hosted our flagship World Summit programme at Wellington College. We welcomed a global mix of 100 young people and educators, from 17 different countries.
Together we are building a truly international community of diverse young people who recognise the importance of understanding oneself in order to make meaningful and positive change in the world.
Emmie Bidston, Director of the Wellington College Leadership and Coaching Institute
