I have had the pleasure of working with Louise Bricknell on a number of occasions. Each of these were significant in that they were ‘out of comfort zone experiences’ for students and most staff. Louise assisted in developing these experiences, in particular, she designed a Leading and Learning experience for Year 9 students at Melbourne Grammar School.
This program was created and implemented by Louise as a response to a request by key school stake holders to provide evidence of how individual students’ learnt and lead (these criteria underpin Melbourne Grammar School’s Mission Statement). The School required a solution to this problem that delivered evidence to School Stake holders and senior school staff, and provided students with experiential opportunities to reflect on how they learnt and lead in different contexts.
Louise’s designed a solution through the development of an off campus learning and leading experience. The multi day experience took place in the Victorian High Country. It was a creative endeavour with positive results.
Each student left the adventure with explicit insights into how they learnt and how they led. Moreover, they left with a visual recollection of these experiences – via a DVD they made with Louise. The electronic record provided the evidence required by stake holders as well as delivering important insights into student learning experiences for school staff.
The project was very well received by all members of the school’s community, and a great experience for everyone involved. In particular, it highlighted Louise’s:
- abilities to create ideas and implement them.
- Leadership and communication skills; every stake holder group involved with the project was delighted with the result and received regular updates relating to the project’s progression.
- Resilience and capacity for sheer hard work over an extended period of time.
- Creativity, every situation was turned into an opportunity to support students’ reflect on how they learnt and led.
- Personality, regardless of the context, Louise always sought to include everyone and embraced every challenge with a smile.
K. Witt,
Languages Program Manager (Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority)