October 2006

Costessey High School's Young Leaders get stuck in!
17th October 2006
Costessey High School's Year 11 Team Leaders grabbed the opportunity to take part in a leadership challenge day held at South Green Park Mattishall this week. The day was organised and run by Poultec Training Limited which delivered a programme of challenges and exercises designed to test leadership and teamwork skills.
The programme started with a debate on what makes a great leader using examples ranging from Margaret Thatcher to Richard Branson and soon became competitive when students were split into their teams. Throughout the day leadership points were awarded by the activity facilitators, Neale McArdle, Mark Raines and Nathan Raines.

Neale ran the "chasm" problem solving activity which involved students constructing a plank bridge to cross an imaginary gorge. Neale commented "I observed some excellent teamwork - this activity really tests the teams' logical thinking and it is great to see how the individuals develop to really work together and listen to each others' ideas." Nathan ran an exercise aimed at testing the groups communication skills involving communicating designs using verbal, physical and pictorial communication techniques only. Nathan commented "This activity really gets people thinking about how we can communicate in every day life and by restricting options, demonstrates why clear communication is so important."The final member of the Poultec delivery team, Mark, ran a practical problem solving activity named the Spider's Web. Students were tasked with planning and building a structure containing a rope web. Members of the team had to be passed through without touching the sides. Mark was pleased with the positive feedback received for this activity "Everybody really enjoyed taking part and getting stuck in - this activity needs good teamwork and organisation - both of these skills were evident today."

The main activity of the afternoon was set in a wooded area of South Green Park and involved nominated team leaders guiding a blindfolded team through a set of obstacles on a rope course. This challenge involved the team leaders testing their communication and organisational skills as they could only guide the team verbally.The main activity of the afternoon was set in a wooded area of South Green Park and involved nominated team leaders guiding a blindfolded team through a set of obstacles on a rope course. This challenge involved the team leaders testing their communication and organisational skills as they could only guide the team verbally.

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