in detail:
Leadership
The King’s School was established to provide Australia with the next generation of leaders. This original charter remains central to both our Mission and the educational offering the school provides.
The King’s School uniform, while being the oldest military uniform still worn in Australia, is wonderfully symbolic of what it means to be a Kingsman - one who is willing to live a life of service to make an outstanding impact for the good of society and others.
The learning landscape of the School provides boys with the challenge and adventure needed to shape the unique character of our boys. With a focus on development of the “whole student” the 320 acres of The King’s School is used to deliver curricular and extra-curricular offerings for every student in an authentic and distinctive leadership development pathway.
Kingsmen begin their Senior School Leadership journey in Year 7 and leadership offerings begin to increase in diversity and complexity as our young men continue their journey such as extra-curricular clubs and sports team.
Our Leadership program is extensive and incorporates a number of avenues for boys, including service learning, House Leadership and School Monitors, The King’s School Cadet Corps, our renowned Boys to Men Program, the Duke of Edinburgh Award, Community outreach and and numerous seminars and exchanges.
The King’s School Cadet Corps
The King’s School Cadet Corps is the oldest and one of the largest in the country, engaging over 800 young men in various activities during the school year. A compulsory activity for boys in Year 9 and 10, Cadets becomes optional for those in Years 11 and 12. The King’ School Corps offers a unique experience in that our students engage first hand in adventure, often in a path they direct themselves, and are given the opportunity to leader fellow students under the careful guidance of staff. Much of its success is due to the fact that many senior students participate in the Promotions Courses each year to gain rank in Years 10, 11 and 12.
In the Corps, students learn and experience discipline, teamwork and character building exercises, culminating in the annual Cadet Camp at Singleton Army Base. The annual Cadet Corps camp is a thrilling experience for our students, who face and overcome challenges, learn to work as a unit and practice leadership. This occurs all in the context of a variety of outdoor education experiences.
The Corps encourages and abides by the following values:
- Service: The selflessness of character to place the security and interests of our School and its community ahead of my own.
- Courage: The strength of character to say and do the right thing, always, especially in the face of adversity.
- Respect: The humanity of character to value others and treat them with dignity.
- Integrity: The consistency of character to align my thoughts, words and actions to do what is right.
- Excellence: The willingness of character to strive each day to be the best I can be, both professionally and personally.
To support the Defence Values, Cadets are asked to:
- Act with purpose.
- Be adaptable, innovative and agile.
- Collaborate and be team-focused.
- Be accountable and trustworthy.
- Reflect, learn and improve.
- Be inclusive and value others.
Boys to Men Program
The Boys to Men Program is an annual program, developed by The King’s School, with a particular focus on our Year 10 men. Introductory elements are also provided for younger students and follow up topics to Year 11 students.
The early concepts are centred around the challenges young men face as they enter manhood, while the latter stages focus on elements such as risk taking and a continued discussion around maintaining healthy relationships and lifestyle, particularly on drug and alcohol awareness. It is designed to help equip them with skills to foster healthy relationships and develop the character to show leadership in overcoming the challenges and issues that face them and society, now and in the future. Boys to Men aims to help create young men who are both self-aware and selfless.
The program focuses in on key areas such as: Health Masculinity, Healthy Living, Well-Being, Service learning, Safe Driving, Life Skills, Healthy Relationships, Respect for others and Leadership.
Service Learning
The Service Learning program provides the opportunity for students to put their leadership skills and character into action.
The Service Learning Program encourages our students to engage in community service opportunities at home, locally, nationally and globally. The program further encourages our students to develop a local and global awareness of human and environmental need and facilitate the opportunity for students to put their character into action through helping and supporting others in need. Service Learning fosters the opportunity for our students to act locally in their own home, support our rural communities with service trips to the country right through to global awareness by supporting our cousin School in Bangladesh.
Our younger students are encouraged to learn to serve and thus develop a genuine level of compassion for those around them. Our middle years students serve to learn, through an authentic opportunity to serve others and make an outstanding impact for the good of society. Finally, our student leaders aim to lead to serve, through a student initiative program which gives students the opportunity to create, implement, execute and then reflect on service initiatives aimed at serving our community.
This initiative program begins in Mentor time and is supported by the Year 11 Monitors and School Monitors. Our service learning program is supported and in itself determines our desire to produce graduates who are servant hearted leaders
Student Leadership
School Monitors
Senior School students are led by School Monitors appointed following a rigorous selection process. This group is led by the School Captain, Vice-Captain and a team of Executive Monitors (Academics, Character Development and Community).
This group of young leaders work closely with the Headmaster and Head of Senior School to lead initiatives, be a voice of the student body and to serve the community to continue to create a positive and welcoming environment for all our students.
Year Monitors
The Year 11 Monitor program offers an important stepping stone and succession planning for the Student Leadership program. It allows the Year 11 leaders to spend time with the Year 12 School Monitor Team. This group of young men are assigned to portfolio of either Academics, Character or Community, joining the School Monitor meetings and work on initiatives with the older students and staff.
This opportunity allows the young leaders to understand what is required of student leaders, helps create a collegial working environment and fosters reflection of their own leadership style before they potentially take on the senior lead roles themselves.
Year 10 students are given an early opportunity to test and grow their potential leadership skills as a Year 10 Gowan Brae Monitor. In this role, our young men are assigned to a Year 7 Gowan Brae Mentor group for a semester, allowing for a large number of students to engage in this important developmental leadership pathway.
Year 10 GB monitors, under the guidance of the Gowan Brae Housemasters, Year Coordinators and Mentors, play an instrumental role supporting Year 7 students to settle into The King’s School.
Year 10 Monitorship is often the first step in a Kingsman’s leadership journey. Through this, boys enrich a younger student’s experience while gaining valuable first-hand experience to understand their own leadership strengths and weaknesses.
Student Representative Council
The Student Representative Council (SRC) operates in the Senior School, with membership of elected students from all Year levels. The SRC acts as a generator of ideas that aims to improve the operation of the School and work to give back to the student body and broader community.
The motto of the SRC is “For the Boys” which places a strong emphasis on servant leadership, yet the SRC also engages in significant fundraising for a variety of charities throughout the calendar year, in order to give back to the wider community.
Leadership Seminars
The King’s School’s seven values provide a context from which regular seminars and workshops are planned throughout the year. Delivered during House and Year meetings, Housemasters, Year Coordinators, members of staff and external guests are invited to speak on topics mapped and planned in our Character Development scope and sequence built in consultation with the Director of Wellbeing and the School’s Counselling team.
These topics are dynamic allowing for flexibility for staff to address current issues which may arise within the school or of a broader nature in society.
Duke of Edinburgh Award
The Duke of Edinburgh Award is an internationally recognised program, open to individuals aged 14 to 24 with the aim of providing opportunities to grow personally and connect with others, through a range of new experiences.
The program combines physical challenges with the development of a broad range of skills, developing a participant’s empathetic understanding of the world around them.
Students are engaged in organising expeditions that will require them to trail walk, ski, paddle, sail, camp and prepare meals. They learn teamwork and leadership skills, and are given the opportunity to demonstrate responsible management of ‘self’ and others.
Gold Duke of Edinburgh has three levels Bronze, Silver and Gold and participants are challenged to complete service within the community, improve their personal health and fitness, expand and widen their interests, explore and undergo new adventures, and finally must complete a purposeful project that will build on a talent previously developed.
Community Outreach
Community Outreach develops leadership through service. Running concurrently with the Cadet Corps Program, the Community Outreach Program provides students with the opportunity to work selflessly for the betterment of others.
The Program has developed strong connections with local nursing homes, retirement villages, schools, special schools, pre-schools, charities, churches, centres of excellence for disabled adults and historic sites. Students are allocated to an organisation and will complete 70 hours of service.
During that period of time, the students may be asked to support activities, create resources, converse meaningfully, engage in gardening and maintenance tasks, and even play games and dance with residents. The underlying motivation for students is that they can grasp the opportunity to enact change, improving the wellbeing of another and discover the joy that is derived from selfless service.
Student exchange program
The King’s School offers Year 10 students the opportunity to be involved in the Leadership and Cultural Exchange Program. By selection, students are selected to take part in an exchange program with various partner schools around the world.
We aim to instil in our young leaders a confidence and resolve honed in unfamiliar settings that will enable them to better lead King’s in their final year of schooling and the wider community when they graduate.
Exchange durations last anywhere from four weeks to a full term. Recently, we have exchanged schools across Britain, Asia and Europe. The School’s Languages Department also facilitates several Exchanges to France and Germany each year, which supports our student’s studies of these languages.
Our students and families are then given the opportunity to host their exchange buddies here in Australia, who attend school at King’s for up to a term.
