Leading for Others
At our Year 12 Commissioning service, Head of Senior School, Mr Bryn Evans, offered a thoughtful homily on servant leadership. In the Gospel reading, James and John approach Jesus and ask to sit at his right and left in glory. It is a bold request for recognition and prominence.
Jesus鈥 response is immediate and direct.
鈥淵ou do not know what you are asking.鈥
He speaks first of the cost of leadership, of the cup he must drink and the path that lies ahead. When the other disciples react with frustration, Jesus gathers them and reframes greatness entirely:
鈥淲hoever wants to become great among you must be your servant鈥 for the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve.鈥
The disciples are asking for position. Jesus redirects them toward service.
As I read the Gospel and then listened to Bryn speak about the kind of leaders we aim to be at All Saints, I was already thinking about two significant priorities unfolding in parallel at our school.
The first is the way my Executive team and I are structuring the working parties to carry forward our Blueprint 2026+ priorities. The second is how we bring to life one of our stated 2026 priorities under the Good Humans Ready for the World pillar: Strengthening student voice, agency and leadership.
These priorities are closely aligned.
As my team and I shape adult leadership structures for our strategic work, I have been reading Team of Teams: New Rules of Engagement for a Complex World by General Stanley McChrystal and his colleagues. The book explores how traditional hierarchies struggle in complex environments and argues that organisations must become flexible, trust-based networks built on shared understanding and distributed responsibility.
Leadership in that model is not about command and control. It is about clarity of purpose, shared ownership and deep trust.
The Gospel reading calls us to the same place.
If we are serious about strengthening student voice and agency, then leadership opportunities for our young people must be built around contribution, responsibility and service, not simply visibility.
Research in Positive Youth Development, particularly the longitudinal work of Richard Lerner and colleagues, identifies five core elements that shape healthy leadership capacity in adolescents:
- Competence
- Confidence
- Connection
- Character
- Caring
When these are nurtured well, they lead to a sixth outcome: Contribution.
That final word is decisive. Leadership is not about accumulating influence. It is about contributing for the good of others.
Youth鈥揳dult partnership research by scholars such as David Zeldin, Brian Christens and Joanna Powers reinforces this. Young people develop leadership capacity when they are given authentic responsibility within supportive relationships. When students are trusted with real voice and real influence, leadership becomes something they practise rather than something they merely hold.
This research has directly shaped how we have re-designed our student leadership model for 2026 and beyond.
From Year 6 through to Year 12, we are establishing larger, collaborative leadership teams that operate alongside and strengthen our School Captains and formal Year 12 leadership roles. The aim is to widen meaningful participation, deepen shared responsibility and create more structured opportunities for students to serve within teams.
Our Captains have already begun presenting this new model to staff and students. Families will hear more about this in due course.
We do not want servant leadership to remain merely a Gospel teaching. We want it embedded by design in how we structure student leadership at All Saints.
It is also visible in the long and faithful service of several members of our community who will soon move into retirement.
Our much-loved Director of Sport, Fergus Leslie, has decided it is time to 鈥渉ang up the boots鈥 after 31 years at All Saints. Fergus will be with us until mid-May, and we look forward to celebrating his extraordinary impact later in the semester. Three decades of commitment to young people leaves a lasting mark.
Stacey Ward, Assistant Head of Senior School - Wellbeing, will retire following her long service leave at the end of this term after more than 19 years of service. Stacey has walked alongside countless students during pivotal years of adolescence, modelling steadiness, care and quiet strength.
Mother Ann McGuinness, now in her 13th year of service at All Saints, will continue her wonderful work with us throughout this year ahead of her planned retirement later in the year. Her spiritual leadership and care of our community members has shaped the heart of this school in ways that cannot be measured.
Each of these leaders has demonstrated what it means to lead for others. Their influence has not been about prominence, but about contribution.
As we carry forward Blueprint 2026+ and continue strengthening student voice and agency as a 2026 priority, the focus remains clear.
Leadership is not about leading for ourselves. It is about leading for others.
Have a wonderful weekend, All Saints Community!
Matt Corbett
Principal
