Student Leadership

At Jells Park Primary School we believe strongly that one of our key roles is to develop leadership skills for all students. As a result students in Years 3-6 participate in the program. For students in Years 3, 4 and 5, their main leadership opportunity is to be involved in the Class Representatives Committee. This committee meets on a regular basis and involves the School Captains, as well as two nominated Class Representatives from each grade from Year 3-6. They ask for feedback from their classmates and make important decisions regarding fundraising. Their opinions are frequently sought in other areas too.

Students in Year 6 have additional opportunities to develop their leadership skills. A thorough preparation takes place to ensure that students are aware of their rights and responsibilities as voters, as well as the responsibilities that each position entails. The ‘Captain’ roles that are available include School Captains, House Captains, Environmental Captains and Music Captains. In addition to those positions, the Year Six Committee is constructed to give the opportunity for students to be involved in making some decisions that are specific to Year Six students.

Year 6 students also have the opportunity to play a role in many other aspects of the day to day running of the school. As a result we have a number of monitor positions available each year. These include: assembly, banking, bell, book club, computers, flag, key, kiddy mail, library, lost property, media, recycling and sport.

Students in Years 5 and 6 regularly participate in Interschool Sport. Each week a different captain is in charge of each team. This allows additional leadership opportunities and is a great way of promoting our schools’ ethos of participation and valuing others.

Each year a number of Year 6 leaders attend Young Leaders Day. This is held at Vodafone Arena and some 5,000 other Primary and Secondary School leaders from across Victoria participate in the program, which involves a number of high profile motivating speakers. In 2006, AFL Legend Ron Barrassi, Member of the Oarsome Foursome Rowing Team Drew Ginnn and author of many children’s books (including There’s a Hippopotamus on the Roof Eating Cake) Hazel Edwards were some of the inspirational speakers that shared their thoughts on leadership.