Dozens of students leaders from across Norwich have attended the first young leaders' conference, designed to help them share ideas about leadership.
The event was organised by Norwich High School's head girl team, made up of head girl Emma Venier and assistant head girls Priya Pulickal, Louisa Quarterman and Riddhi Shenoy.
More than 40 students from about 10 different schools attended the conference, which was held on Wednesday afternoon.
The four-hour conference aimed to help young people become involved in discussions and decisions about their schools and local communities.
The students were treated to a motivational talk from former Norwich City and Northern Ireland footballer Paul McVeigh, who has also worked as a sports presenter, author and co-founded the ThinkPro programme for elite professional sportsmen.
Other speakers who provided leadership advice and shared their life experiences were Siobhan Eke, director of enterprise and innovation at City College, and Norwich High alumna Samantha Mattocks, an entrepreneur who founded and edits the Arabian Magazine.
Emma Venier, Norwich High head girl, said: 'The aim of our conference was to network with young leaders in schools in and around Norwich, to share ideas about leadership, develop our own characteristics and find out how we can become better leaders within our own communities.
'We thought young leaders in schools in Norwich didn't network enough so we thought surely there was something we could do. If we come together, the opportunities could be endless.
'Building on this event is now crucial – we do not want it to be a one off. We hope this will be the start of more events in the future.'
A series of workshops encouraged debate and the development of ideas on topics such as networking opportunities between schools, fundraising, how to integrate pupils from different year groups within schools, and building school communities.
Headteacher Jason Morrow said: 'It was great to welcome so many student leaders from across the area today and I'm sure they have had a very useful and interesting evening discussing shared challenges and opportunities in their respective schools in engaging and representing their schools. This event has been organised entirely by our Head Girl team based on their experiences of a similar national event for all our sister Girls' Day Schools Trust schools and I am so impressed by the initiative they have shown in holding this conference for those in similar roles in other schools.'
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here