Influential women sign up as mentors at Woodford House

Amanda Palmer, Sheila Patel, Mihi Sorensen and Catherine Robertson speak at the first Shine Strengths workshop. Photo / Supplied

Woodford House students have started a programme called "Shine Strengths" in which they are being mentored by internationally recognised women.

Musician Amanda Palmer, novelist Catherine Robertson, financial expert Sheila Patel and lawyer Mihi Sorenson alongside 20 Hawke's Bay women were welcomed to the school as Shine Mentors on Friday.

The programme aims to connect the students with "their innate strengths" such as resilience, adaptability and collaboration through self-awareness training, narrative interaction with mentors, and opportunities to practise their newly discovered strengths.

The women were welcomed to the school last Friday in the first on-campus workshop.

"Over my decades in education, mainly in single-sex schools, I realised that something was missing for girls," principal Julie Peterson said.

"Our excellent academic programmes are not able to fully prepare them for the increasingly unpredictable world beyond their school years."

So, she created an advisory team of students and staff which conducted research to determine the 12 Shine Strengths and what the best way girls could learn about them.

The programme consists of workshops, six modules and masterclasses. Later in the year the team are also going to launch "Shine Field Studies" and "Shine Start Ups" which will allow the girls to use the strengths they have learnt.

Mentors meet with the girls in groups to share stories then smaller groups are formed to continue discussion.

Shine Programme manager Hannah Coltart said every woman they have talked to about the programme wants to be part of it.

"They understand how valuable these strengths are in finding personal satisfaction in life and are motivated to help girls gain this insight as early as possible.

"We have not even begun formal recruiting and we already have more than 50 women who have signed up."

Peterson is piloting the initiative at the school but plans to share the programme, materials and mentor infrastructure with other schools and organisations.