Leadership Conference

Prefect teams from Brighton Grammar School and Firbank Grammar School recently came together to partake in a Leadership Conference facilitated by former School Captain, Andrew McGrath (OB 2016).

Opening the afternoon with a reflection on his leadership journey, Andrew spoke openly about the challenges of leadership – that of discipline, stress, high performance, and adversity – but most insightfully, he demonstrated that choosing to embrace difficulty, to take on the burden of service, is immensely rewarding.

He shared tactics he uses to stay level-headed in high-pressure situations, for which as Year 12 students, with final exams looming, we were all grateful, and he pointed out the similarities between high performance in sport, academics, and leadership.

Encouraging us to reflect on how we ourselves have developed as leaders and people, Andrew made note of the importance of understanding that the person we want to be in five years is made by the person we are now.

Insightfully, he spoke about how crucial it is to embrace discomfort, to do the hard things, in order to grow as people; after all, leadership requires continual growth.

In the subsequent Q&A time, the BGS and FGS Prefects had the opportunity to ask Andrew specific questions about school leadership, and how that extended into life after school.

Then, to conclude the conference, we broke off into smaller groups of Prefects, with similar portfolios across the two schools, and discussed how moving forward we could utilise not only Andrew’s leadership insights, but also what we’ve learnt in our roles so far.

This conference was an incredibly valuable afternoon, allowing us to develop techniques for personal development and practical leadership; we thank Andrew for sharing his stories and insights with such openness and authenticity.

Charlie Sabin
School Captain