Across the Trust’s three primary and three secondary schools, each school had been asked to nominate three or four students who showed real leadership qualities. The reasons behind each nomination were as varied as the students themselves, from those representing their peers on youth and town councils, to others running lunchtime sports sessions or after-school clubs for younger pupils, to students quietly making sure everyone felt included at playtime or supported in the school library. What none of those students knew was that their own school had quietly chosen one of them as their overall winner, a decision kept under wraps until the very end of the day. In total, nineteen students made the journey to Trewidland, each with their own story of what leadership looked like for them.

Once everyone had arrived, the day kicked off with a game of Imposter to break the ice and get strangers talking. Students were then mixed into teams of three, with one team of four to make the numbers work, pairing students who hadn’t met before and mixing primary and secondary ages together. From there, the main activity began: across three rounds, every student had a turn standing on stage while a teammate shared their leadership story with the room, and a turn putting a set of prepared questions to whoever was up on stage. The audience got involved too, asking their own questions at the end, which made for some unscripted moments.

Between rounds, students headed outside to make the most of the sunshine, with juice and a beautifully decorated cupcake being provided. By the end of the day, scores had been added up, and a winning team was announced. Though it was all done in good spirits, every single student there was a winner in their own right, and the final scores were more like a bit of fun than the main point of the day. To round things off, pupils from Trewidland Primary and Pre-School came in to watch the final presentations and this was also the moment each school’s winner found out they’d been chosen as the outright winner for their school, a lovely surprise to finish off the day.

This year’s event was led by Kristien Carrington, Director of Education, stepping in for Dan Buckley, who was unfortunately taken away by other commitments this year.