GRIP
GOLD MEMBER NEWSLETTER
Making The Most Of Your GRIP Gold Membership Page 8
INSIDE THIS ISSUE OF THE NEWSLETTER Free Online Resources With GRIP Social Page 3
Why Mid Year Makes Or Breaks Student Leaders Pages 4-5
Event Ideas For Winter Page 6-7
Can you see your school...
...at a recent conference? 2  GRIP GOLD MEMBER Newsletter
Have You Tapped Into The
FREE Resources
Online At Grip Social?
G
RIP Leadership made the very deliberate decision to followup our live conferences with a variety of tools and opportunities. Part of this commitment was the launch of an online portal known as ‘GRIP Social’.
The original focus of GRIP Social was for student leaders in secondary school. However, we realised that it is highly valuable for primary school teachers and, with the right guidance and supervision, some primary aged leaders as well.
GRIP Social serves two purposes. Firstly, it is an online portal for accessing videos, free resources and a library of articles aimed at helping student leaders. Secondly, it acts as a place for leaders, teachers and GRIP team members to interact and share ideas. Users of GRIP Social can create their own profile and contribute to discussions.
Go online now, create a free profile and begin browsing through the feast of inspirational ideas. GRIP Social is separate to the main GRIP Leadership website and can be found at gripsocial.com.au
Use a QR s c your sma an app on rt to go dire phone Gripsocia ct to la your free nd create account
Check out gripsocial.com.au Newsletter
GRIP GOLD MEMBER 3
Why Mid Year Makes or Breaks Student Leaders
W
hen a new student leadership team forms, the first fortnight is the most critical to their sustained success. It then becomes natural to expect the output of the team will continually increase and decrease as the months roll on. The demands on the students also change for a variety of reasons.
The truth is, schools are always busy. Putting off meetings and projects until next term normally slows momentum down even more.
However, closely following the first fortnight in importance is the last week of first semester and the first week of second semester. These are the weeks than can often ‘make or break’ the success of the team over the rest of the year.
In the last week of semester have a meeting. Collectively review the influence that the leaders made on the school thus far. If the verdict is that little was achieved, at least this was recognised, then semester two can be
Have you found yourself saying “things are a bit busy at the school now, so I will get the leaders back together at the start of next term to re-focus”? 4 GRIP GOLD MEMBER Newsletter
Here are a few tips to make sure that the end of semester ‘makes’ your leadership team instead of ‘breaking’ it:
#1: REVIEW
viewed as an important opportunity. If the verdict is that much was achieved then this can be celebrated and held up as the standard to beat in semester two. Most importantly, the review must be genuine. During this process, be
A few tips to make sure that the end of semester ‘makes’ your leadership team instead of ‘breaking’ it.
sure to set goals for semester two as well.
#2 CAPITALISE ON THE FINAL DAY
The final day of school is usually kept free from other events in the school. If this is the case, then it is a great opportunity for student leaders to create an activity that appeals to the interest of their peers. This can usually be anything... from an afternoon activity to a sausage sizzle lunch or a special assembly showcasing interesting work from the semester. (If your school has high absenteeism on the last day of term, this can work well in countering that.)
#3 PLAN READY FOR WEEK 1
Treat the first week of second semester, for planning purposes, as if it is just the next week and there was no break. This makes sure you are ready to ‘pick up the planning’ for your latest project as soon as school resumes next semester. If you separate next semester in your planning process and plan to start new things, you run the risk of putting off the first meeting of the semester . This can lead to an accidental phasing out of the leadership team.
#4 TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THE WEATHER
their peers disappointed. Instead, plan an activity that entertains students indoors. These ideas can do wonders for increasing participation. Ideas could include lunchtime talent shows, boardgame tournaments or the sale of hot chocolate with marshmallows. In summary, regardless of how you feel your leadership team progressed so far this year, the end of this semester and the start of the next is a great opportunity if approached correctly.
If winter is cold and/or wet in your part of Australia then this will also make or break the plans of your leadership team. Ensure that the leaders do not plan outdoor activities that could be cancelled, leaving the leaders and Newsletter
GRIP GOLD MEMBER 5
A list of events and fundraisers happening across Australia in Term 2 and Term 3
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e hope you have had a great first term at school! If your leadership team are interested in continuing to make a difference both in your school and community throughout the middle of the year, then running an event or fundraiser might do just that! There are hundreds of events already happening across Australia every year. You might have even watched TV commercials about various awareness days, and chances are you are not the only person who saw them. These types of national events are a great place to start when thinking about a fun and exciting event to run at your school.
A Helpful Resource!
The Steps To Running Successful Events For more information about this resource and others, visit our website www.gripleadership.com.au.
If you are wondering just where to begin, here are nine great events we found coming up in Term 2 and Term 3. The next step for you and your leadership team is to get started on them right now. Good luck!
July
NAIDOC Week Date: 7-14 July Website:www.naidoc.org.au NAIDOC celebrations are held around Australia in the first full week in July to celebrate the history, culture and achievements of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
6  GRIP GOLD MEMBER Newsletter
Stress Down Day Date: 26 July Website:www.lifelinehunter.org.au/ index.php/stress-down-day Stress Down Day is a fundraising event to help cover the cost of running Lifeline’s 24 hour telephone counseling line - 13 11 14. You can participate by enjoying a day of stress reducing activities, including casual dress.
National Tree Day Date: 28 July Website: treeday.planetark.org/ National Tree Day sees communities work together to protect their natural environment by planting and caring for native trees and shrubs.
Event Ideas for Winter August Jeans For Genes Day Date: 2 August Website: www.jeansforgenes.org.au Jeans for Genes Day is the major fundraising event for the Children’s Medical Research Institute, an organisation on a mission to reduce the number of children born with genetic illnesses.
National Science Week Date: 10-18 August Website: www.scienceweek.net.au National Science Week celebrates the contributions Australian Scientists have made to the world. The theme for this year’s National Science Week is A Century of Australian Science.
Daffodil Day Date: 23 August Website: www.daffodilday.com.au Daffodil Day is one of the Cancer Council’s most loved fundraising events. This year, every daffodil and every donation grows hope for more survivors, better treatments and greater support.
R U OK? Day Date: 12 September Website: www.ruokday.com
Clean Up The World Weekend Date: 20-21 September Website: www.cleanuptheworld.org/ Clean Up the World Weekend helps to inspire and empower communities to “clean up, fix up and conserve their local environment”. Initiatives range from waste removal and tree planting to water and energy conservation projects.
September Father’s Day
Father’s Day Date: 1 September Father’s Day is a day to celebrate fathers across Australia. Some ideas to do this are having a breakfast barbecue and inviting all the fathers to participate. This could be a great opportunity to increase community involvement in the school as well.
Are You Ok Day is an annual national day of action that aims to get Australians reaching out to anyone doing it tough and simply asking: “Are you ok?”
Newsletter
GRIP GOLD MEMBER 7
GRIP GOLD MEMBERSHIP Making the Most of Your GRIP Gold Membership The GRIP Gold program is designed to deliver ongoing value and provide member schools with additional support in the area of developing student leadership. Almost 500 teachers and school administrators took advantage of the offer we made for Gold Members to participate in the inaugural ‘GRIP Leading & Teaching’ conference. Four ways you can make the most of your membership include:
#1
Utilising the 20% discount that is always available to GRIP Gold Members for the entire range of leadership resources
#2
Arriving early to the next live conference to take advantage of early entry for GRIP Gold Members to access the best seating.
#4
Accessing special offers only available to GRIP Gold Members. For example, until the end of the financial year we are happy for all schools that purchase at least $119 of resources to receive FREE a copy of the ‘Conference FollowUp Sessions’ disc (valued at $149), as well as FREE participation in the ‘Online Follow Up Conference’ (for primary schools, valued at $80.)
#3
Browsing through the articles in this newsletter, only distributed to GRIP Gold Members. If you would like to share it with your students then print off as many copies as you wish.
Over 1000 schools in Australia are now GRIP Gold Members! 8 GRIP GOLD MEMBER Newsletter