In Year 10 girls are offered the opportunity to join the Year 10 Leadership Programme. This introduces specific roles which the girls may apply for: Journalist Leads, Eco-Reps, Digital Leads, Debating Leads and Volunteering Leads. The idea of the programme is that each girl who takes on one of these roles comes up with her own ideas to do something meaningful around the school – to make a real and tangible difference. 

As our three Year 10 (now Year 11) Digital Leaders near the end of their leadership term in November, we asked the girls about their year as digital trailblazers.

2019 was the very first year of Digital Leaders at NHEHS. Why did you sign up for it?

Inaya: To challenge myself beyond the school curriculum and have an opportunity to put my leadership and teamwork skills into action.

Evie: I signed up to be a Digital Lead because I wanted to be put outside my comfort zone and practise having some more responsibility to prepare myself for later life. I am also a big supporter of using technology to enhance our learning as I think it will be a large part of our future.

Amelie: I signed up for Digital Leads as I thought that it would be a good start to obtaining a leadership role within the school.

What tasks were you set  and how did you approach them?

Inaya: At our first ever meeting Mr Khan gave us an extremely long list with all of the tasks we had to complete within the year. Our first task was creating a video introducing Chromebooks for all of the students, which did take a while to finish but looked great once completed. We then had to make video tutorials for different features on Chromebooks (eg. Google docs & drive), plan a Chromebook induction, lead teacher workshops with useful tips, produce a presentation for the teachers’ Inset Day, lead sessions to introduce Chromebooks to all students and much, much more.

Evie: We were initially set with completing our Google Educator Level 1 qualification which will look very good on a CV. We also had to brainstorm good ways to educate teachers and students  on how to better use technology in the classroom.

Amelie: We were set numerous tasks and were initially overwhelmed with everything we had to do. But looking back I’m glad we did all that work with the amazing outcome it has produced.

What was the most challenging thing about it?

Inaya: The most challenging thing was definitely getting everything done on time. As soon as one task was completed, another one came up straight away and it did become a little chaotic, however you feel really satisfied when the big things get done.

Evie: One of the hardest parts for me was presenting in front of large groups of people, especially the teachers. Now that I have done it, I am so much more confident presenting and it has given me a life skill that will help me in my future job.

Amelie: The most most challenging  part was doing the actual assemblies and the public speaking. 

What did you learn about teaching and leading sessions? Was there anything you didn’t expect?

Inaya: Teaching the teachers was really not as bad as I expected it to be – I actually really enjoyed being able to reverse positions and be the one giving instructions. I had done public speaking in the past, but this gave me a great chance to practice my presentation skills and I learnt a lot about leading a successful presentation. I didn’t expect to be doing so many workshops, induction sessions and presentations, however you get the hang of it after the first few.

Evie: When presenting you learn that a lot of things do not go to plan and you have to improvise in the moment. Plus it has taught me how to think on my feet and plan for all possibilities.

Amelie: By doing so many of the sessions I gained confidence within my public speaking skills.

Have you learned anything you can use in your studies or outside of school (technical or soft skills)?

Inaya: Most obviously, I have learnt so much about the chromebooks so that it is really easy for me to use them to their full potential and help my teachers during class. I have learnt huge amounts about the G-suite (Google docs, drive, classroom etc.) so I can use every feature to enhance my note making, revision and learning. I also have gained numerous skills which will definitely be useful in the future, such as teamwork, presenting skills, leadership, problem solving and thinking on the spot.

Evie: While I have been a Digital Lead I have learnt many useful things, some of which are technical skills which will be very useful if I choose to go into a technology-based job, but I have also acquired teamwork and leadership skills.

Amelie: I also gained many soft skills including organisation and confidence. Overall, I really enjoyed my year being a Digital Lead because of everything I gained from it.

Mr Khan said of our three Digital Leaders: The Digital Leads have performed outstandingly during their tenure. They have played a pivotal role in the launch of the Chromebooks. Scores of teachers have mentioned to how amazing they have been, especially the way they have spoken in their sessions and the patience they have displayed. They have made a tremendous amount of progress in a number of skills. They have produced resources for teachers, surveyed students, led workshops, presented at the INSET, inducted the year 7,8,9 and 10 groups, created and edited a launch video, completed the Google Certified Educator course and much more. They are considering taking the Computer Science at A level so that they can learn how to develop apps that can take the use of technology of others to the next level

Thank you to Inaya, Evie and Amelie for being such great Digital Leaders this year. We are looking forward to welcoming new Year 10 Digital Leaders after half term.