On Friday the 24th of November, over 350 students once again participated in the annual National Takeover Day, both in and out of school. The opportunity allows girls to demonstrate and develop essential leadership skills within the school and the surrounding community. In school, students took on roles ranging from caretaker, cook, teacher and Library Manager. Some (like us) even got to take on roles on the Senior Leadership Team. Outside of school, students took part in careers such as engineer, solicitor, scientist and teaching assistant at a local primary school.

We were lucky enough to be given the opportunity to take over Head of School, Mr Goodenough. Our day began with a briefing with other girls who had taken over the roles of the Senior Leadership Team. We chaired this meeting and discussed leadership opportunities at the school and the importance of the day. It was interesting to hear from both students participating in the day but also the members of staff being taken over. We then presented in staff briefing, where we delivered messages and staff nominations. Although challenging, it was really enjoyable. We were surprised to find that nominations for staff of the week resulted in chocolate!

Next, we experienced a learning walk with Mr Manning; we visited Year 9 maths lessons and later fed back to Mr Manning our impression of the school from this new perspective. Later, we met with Mrs Warwick's, Dr Khan's, and Mr Willett’s take over students to discuss the school’s development priorities, such as linking St Birinus and our school through activities and events. We then enjoyed lunch with our fellow takeover students before finishing with visits to more lessons and then drafting this article.

Overall, the day was very interesting and enjoyable, and helped us to gain insight into what a leadership role might include at the school. We are sure everybody else enjoyed the day as much as we did and were able to develop their understanding of what it means to be a leader in and out of school. We know Mr Goodenough enjoyed putting his feet up for the day whilst we did his work!

Tala Odeh & Sophie Speakman

Year 11