Future leaders shine at Young Leaders’ Conference

The winning team of the GDST Young Leader's Conference 2016Over three days at the end of September (30th September – 2nd October 2016), we were delighted to welcome 140 students to The Royal High School in Bath for the annual GDST Young Leaders’ Conference.

The event brought together Head Girls and prefects from all 25 GDST sixth forms with the aim of providing them with first-hand experience of leading and working in a team.

The weekend revolved around an ‘Apprentice-style’ challenge. The students were split into twelve teams and tasked with creating a fundraising campaign for one of four real-life charities represented at the conference: Hope & Homes for Children, Humanitarian Aid Relief Trust, MicroLoan Foundation and The Lily Foundation (which raises awareness of Mitochondrial disease).

Before the challenge got underway, the girls were treated to a number of sessions about leadership and team working. The students heard from new GDST CEO Cheryl Giovannoni, Anne Francke, Chief Executive of the Chartered Management Institute (CMI) and Sam Davies, yachtswoman and alumna of Portsmouth High School.

With sage advice about resilience, boldness and confidence fresh in their minds, the students were then given a challenging masterclass in leadership and team-working by the British Army.

At the start of day two, the students pitched their initial ideas to their charities and put their ideas to the general public on a visit to Bath City Centre. As the teams’ campaigns took shape, they also had the opportunity to bid for sponsorship to secure funding to realise their ambitions.

The teams worked flat out to meet the 7pm deadline for submissions; once the submissions were in, it was time for dinner and an early night before the final presentations were delivered on the final morning.

#LemonadeForLoans: The winning idea at this year’s Young Leaders’ Conference.

On the final day, all 12 teams took to the stage to present their pitches. The standard of the presentations was exceptional across the board, each team coming with distinctive and original campaign ideas.

The winning idea came from a team whose presentation was truly world class – the idea for the MicroLoan Foundation was #LemonadeForLoans, an annual fundraising event on Africa Day raising money from lemonade stands selling homemade lemonade, with the proceeds donated to the charity.

Congratulations to the winners and all the girls who took part!

For an in-depth look at what happens over the course of a Young Leaders’ weekend, watch our mini documentary from last year’s conference below.