Leading to Empower: Creating Supportive Spaces to Learn and Grow

SistersIN is a girls’ programme designed to help develop leadership skills, confidence, and self-belief in a supportive and encouraging environment. Each girl is assigned a mentor who offers guidance, shares techniques to improve leadership and personal skills, and provides one-to-one support. Through discussions and activities, girls also explore different career paths, learn about future opportunities, and gain insight into their strengths and interests, helping them feel more prepared and confident about what lies ahead. Within our groups the girls have started their leadership projects which have been extremely successful so far, so here’s an insight into what the girls have been getting up to:

Poetry Club - Renila and Czyanea

For the SistersIN leadership program, we introduced a poetry club which welcomed pupils in year 8, year 10 and year 12. Acknowledging the importance of English, and it’s link to literature -we thought about how many pupils struggle to write and understand poems. Therefore, we started the club to help them with their writing skills. We introduce them to new types of poems, the first week we showcased haiku poems, on the second week we introduced acoustic poems. All of this has helped with our leadership skills as well as our communication skills. In summary, the club has helped many younger years understand the beauty of poetry. This experience has helped us as young female leaders understand that we can help people find a passion in something if we teach it properly.

Winning $treak - Vanesa, Samanta, Airida

As part of the SistersIN leadership programme, we’ve been working with Year 9 students by facilitating interactive games such as Mafia and Find the imposter. We chose this approach because games create a safe, engaging space where young people can express themselves, collaborate and build confidence without pressure. Play encourages participation, especially for students who may be shy or hesitant to speak up in traditional settings. This project matters because leadership is not only about authority but also about connection, communication and influence. By guiding these games, we’ve learned how to take charge while supporting Year 9’s to think critically and work as a team. The games require problem solving, observation, communication and decision making all of which are essential skills to nurture. Additionally, while their skills flourish, we’ve also built skills in facilitation, communication and responsibility which are key qualities of an effective leader. This project strongly reflects the SistersIN values as by stepping into a leadership role, we’re showing young people that leadership can be fun, supportive and collaborative. Overall, this experience so far has already strengthened our passion for making a positive impact on others. It has shown us that leadership is about empowering people around you, creating opportunities for growth and leading with purpose.

Literacy lunch - Marillia, Natalie, Isabela

We understand that English is an important subject for young children, but many dislike it therefore we decided to help them enjoy it by playing literacy games.

It helps motivate young children to try their best in English and helps them understand things they might have been confused about before.

For the children’s skills they are developing their confidence in getting up in class and attempting different games such as spelling bees as for us it helps us develop our leadership skills as well as being able to help children who are struggling with English.

They benefit both us and the children as we all learn new skills such as confidence and communication.

Although all the children are all boys it still reflects on us how we can teach them while being young female leaders.

Minecraft club - Gloria, Melissa

An after-school club where students can connect and have fun. We’ll be doing calm Minecraft challenges, teamwork games and other low-pressure activities to help everyone de-stress and feel supported. It’s currently for Year 11–Year 14 students, but we’re hoping to open it up to more year groups as the club grows. Come along, meet new people after school!

Girls are Worth It! - Laura, Seonna & Aimee

The Girls Are Worth It programme helps girls build loads of valuable skills that will support them now and in the future. Through fun, supportive activities the SistersIN Programme has allowed us to help young girls grow within themselves, they will develop teamwork, leadership, communication, and confidence, while learning how to support one another and work together. We take first-year girls and run fun, engaging activities that help them get to know each other better, build friendships, and learn more about themselves. It’s a safe, encouraging space to grow, try new things, and realise your strengths!

Overall, we feel that our leadership projects have helped us grow within ourselves while helping others, allowing us to work with people we may not have known and given us the chance to learn about their interests and hobbies. Many skills have been and will continue to be developed, such as: confidence, understanding, leadership, teamwork and responsibility for young girls before going out into the workplace.

“Believe in yourself, support one another and never underestimate the power of what you can achieve”