Leadership Week is one of the most important and valuable weeks on the St Paul’s calendar – and this year was no exception. 

In the week leading up to Welcome Week, our student leaders and residential staff came together for a week of leadership development, training, and planning – beginning with a two-day offsite retreat for the elected leaders from both our undergraduate and postgraduate communities.

Annual offsite leadership retreat

This year’s retreat was held in the Southern Highlands – a peaceful setting . The retreat offer something unique and valuable: time to step back, connect as a wider leadership cohort, and reflect on what kind of year they wanted to build together.

The two-day program balanced the bigger questions of leadership and legacy with practical sessions for each leadership team to work through plans for the week and year ahead. Shared meals and fun team activities filled the spaces in between.

Leadership development continues back at College

On day three, the elected leaders returned to College where they were joined by their Peer Support and Welcome Week leader peers. Alongside planning for the week ahead, the week continued at College with a packed schedule of sessions from College staff and specialist external providers: mental health with Nicole Evans from ConnectMe, alcohol and other drugs with the Matilda Centre, living in community, academic life, social media, and more.  

Together, these sessions provided our leaders a strong foundation – for their own wellbeing, and for the students they’d soon be welcoming through our gates and supporting throughout the year ahead.