School Testimonials

Glenfield College

Lyn Horspool - Principal

In 2004 Glenfield College was fortunate to be included in the YWCA Future Leaders Programme.  Imagine at 14 years of age having your own mentor to walk alongside you as you move through college!  Someone who is committed to being part of your 'growing up' years, someone to listen to you, to offer encouraging words, to gently guide you when your wheels start to wobble!
Our year 10 girls who are involved in the programme are totally committed to it.  They are finding the diverse range of leadership opportunities they receive through camps and activity weekends are developing new skills and confidence in them.  To have one of our future leaders, Metala Savelio, speak in front of the Leading Women dinner this year was a particularly proud moment for the college and an opportunity Metala would never had experienced if she hadn't been on the programme.
We look forward to the continuing development of our 'future leaders' at Glenfield College and thank the YWCA Future Leaders Programme for the fantastic opportunities you have given our girls to develop as leaders.   

Auckland Girls Grammar

Robyn Rose - Year 10 Dean

Auckland Girls Grammar School was delighted to have the opportunity to join the Future Leaders Programme, as personal mentoring is seen as an effective way of keeping students focused on their educational and life goals. The 10 students selected have already benefited from their participation by doing fun activities such as appearing on the TV programme Flipside and lunching with their mentors during the school holidays, in addition to more serious activities such as setting goals for themselves and getting to know how successful business women function. The girls describe the programme as 'cool'. They have gained self-confidence from being chosen from many applicants and are enthusiastic about their mentoring experiences to date. The school is expecting these students will be helped to reach their potential both academically and socially as a result of their association, and we look forward to seeing them develop their strengths over the next four years aided by a personal mentor.

Massey High School

Pat Evans - Deputy Principal

Massey High School has been involved with the YWCA Future Leaders programme for almost a year. We were attracted to it by the fact that it is a long-term involvement for each student. The level of organisation and the commitment given by the programme coordinator and her mentors have been impressive.

The programme has been a very positive one for our selected eight students. Opportunities and experiences have been provided for the girls which they would be unlikely to have had in their own home and school lives. It has been pleasing to see these young women reacting positively and developing confidence and skills which have been beneficial to them in their acheivements at school and in their potential as leaders.

We fully support the programme and wish we could have more students involved in it.

McAuley Girls High
Kath Deady - Immediate Past Principal

I was first approached while the programme was in draft form, but it appeared to me to have several advantages over other mentoring initiatives I have seen:

• The mentors undertook a training programme – they were not simply relying on their own life/work experience, considerable though this may be
• There was a defined structure to the interaction between mentors and students, by comparison with often-unstructured meetings when mentors provided their own agenda
• The programme included consistent contact with parents, who are the “third side” of the educational triangle – wanting to support their daughter’s educational aspirations but in many cases not knowing how
• There was a tangible reward for students who stayed in the programme. While long-term educational and career success is a worthwhile goal in itself, for younger students (the programme begins at Year 10), there has to be a “what’s in this for me?”

Students entered the programme in years 10 and 11 from McAuley – now years 11 and 12. There have been observable outcomes for them such as:

• Achievement of 80-plus credits
  in NCEA Level 1, giving them the equivalent of passes in 5 school Certificate subjects. All of the year 11 students achieved this benchmark, and directly attribute their success to Future Leader’s mentoring.
• Increased confidence.
  One student addressed a gathering of the “Top 100 women in New Zealand”, which included an ex-Governor General, Members of Parliament, business leaders and entertainers, on her dreams and aspirations. Her speech was a great success and I could not help thinking what a long way she had come
• Increased self-efficacy.
  Research shows that girls are more likely to attribute success to external factors such as luck, but that an internal locus of control actually gives them more likelihood of success. By interacting with mentors these students are beginning to see that their chances of achieving are linked directly to their won goals and efforts. This insight begins with the well-structured camp they attend close to the start of the programme.
• Powerful role-models.
  All of the students in the programme are from Pasifika families where education beyond high school has been rare in previous generations. The Future Leaders programme exposes them to a wider world, through interaction with women from many walks of life. They were encouraged to select their own mentors from those available, and are building quality relationships with these women, giving them the opportunity to talk to adults other than their immediate families or teachers.

I am delighted that McAuley was selected, with Westlake Girls, as one of the initial schools in the Future Leaders YWCA programme, and humbled by the generosity of the women who make up the mentor networks. I hope that the programme, and our involvement in it, will continue. I would encourage any initiatives that enable this programme to attract the funding necessary for its continuation.

Tamaki College
Soana Pamaka – Principal

The mentoring opportunity offered by the Future Leaders Programme is one that the College is hugely fortunate to be participating in because the girls in the programme have been chosen for academic and or leadership qualities and they are the real winners of this partnership. Often the young people in our community respond very well to mentoring because it is an outside person or organisation reinforcing the same messages that we deliver at the College and the positive impact of the mentors goes without saying but also something should also be said about the exposure that the girls get to a wider perspective of life which often happens from a simple outing for coffee with their mentors. It further boosts their confidence as young women, giving them permission to go ahead and be successful women in whatever field they choose. I am happy to elaborate on any of these things.

Sir Edmund Hillary Collegiate
Jacqui Tyrrell - Year 10 Dean / HOD Social Sciences

Future Leaders is a well organised and highly effective mentoring programme, that provides additional support, advice and guidance to six of my Year 10 students. The one-on-one mentors are excellent female role models from many different professional spheres, and they relate well to the girls. I think this is an exciting programme that both in the short and long term, the students not only enjoy, but hugely benefit from. I wish I could have gone on such a programme myself at that age!

Westlake Girls High
Caroline Thompson - Assistant Principal

In 2002 Westlake Girls High Students were fortunate in being asked to participate in the YWCA Future Leaders Mentoring Programme. As a school we have four students involved in the programme. I personally have been most impressed with the professionalism and dedication of the staff, in particular Adele Lendich, whose task it has been to co-ordinate and liaise with not only the students, mentors, and family, but also the school. Our students have been invited to participate in a wide range of experiences from voyages on the Spirit of New Zealand through to formal functions attended by the Prime Minister and the Governor General. It would be fair to say that all our students have gained immensely from not only the vast range of opportunities afforded them, but also from the dedication and support from the mentors and programme co-ordinator. I thoroughly commend the efforts of all those involved in the programme.