Athletes step up for schools’ leadership event

Year 6 pupils from Catholic schools across Dunedin were learning from the best yesterday as former All Black Ben Smith and Olympic swimmer Erika Fairweather spoke to them at a leadership development event.

Held at the Dunedin Rugby Football Club, pupils spent the day completing team building exercises, in between talks from the athletes on the qualities of good leadership.

Year 13 pupils from Trinity Catholic College were also on hand to help the younger students with their work.

The event was organised by the schools’ leadership in conjunction with Communities of Learning, a Ministry of Education initiative that encourages education providers to collaborate and improve learning experiences.

Yesterday marked the first time the schools had held such an event. Attempts in the previous two years were hindered by Covid restrictions.

Ben Smith said it was a "cool concept" and hoped that his words would give the students plenty to think about.

"Hopefully the kids can relate to the stories that I’ve got and sort of take that on board so that they can be better within their life."

Smith said that the pupils already had good role models in their teachers, but hoped that he could be "a different voice" for them to learn from.

regan.harris@odt.co.nz