Pupil Voice/ Leadership | Abbeymead Primary School

Pupil Voice and Leadership Roles at Abbeymead

Here at Abbeymead Primary School, we believe that our children are the most important people and we endeavour to give all children lots of opportunities to share their ideas and opinions and play an active role in the decisions that affect their learning and well-being.

We have lots of ways that the children can do this formally through the following leadership groups:

Rainbow Council - voted by peers
House Captains - application process
Inclusion Leaders - selected by staff
Play Leaders - selected by staff
PE Leaders/ Ambassadors - selected by staff
Health and Well-being Ambassadors
Language Ambassadors - selected by staff
Eco Ambassadors
Digital leaders - selected by staff
Science Ambassadors - selected by staff
Green Caps - anti bullying ambassadors

as well as regular pupil conferencing and taking part in pupil surveys. However, we also work hard to create an ethos that allows the children to regularly share their opinions in an informal way through conversations in class, assemblies and 1:1 conversations with all school staff.

We keep a 'Pupil Engagement Record' which records which leadership activities (and clubs) the children have been involved in and this allows us to target children who have not yet had the opportunity to be involved in school leadership roles.

Green Caps

Our Green Caps are our school's anti-bullying ambassadors, who work with adults to lead our anti-bullying campaign.

Each class from Year 1 to Year 6 nominate two Green Caps, who peers can approach if they are having some problems on the playground. The Green Caps will then report it to a lunchtime supervisor, Care Mentor or Pupil Welfare Lead for it to be dealt with, using the 'Hear it. See it. Speak out. Stop it' approach.

When on the playground, Green Caps have the option to wear their green baseball caps so they are easily identifiable.

Green Caps attend regular meetings to discuss what is happening on the playground and to raise any concerns. They are also responsible for monitoring the green card boxes in classrooms, by reporting to the teacher if a green card has been placed in the box.

Green Caps play an important role in organising activities through the year, particularly during Anti-Bullying Week.

School House Captains

As part of our Pupil Leadership offer, we believe that children need to experience duties and responsibilities that come with being a member of a community in order to help them prepare to play an active role as citizens in the wider world.

At Abbeymead Primary, the role of the House Captain is very important to the day to day organisation of our school. Our Year 6 pupils are only allowed to apply for the position of House Captain, therefore it is considered to be very prestigious. They are more than just a title and badge and require dedication and commitment for an entire year. In a sense they are junior members of staff and are expected to take their roles seriously.

The positions not only allow the Year 6 pupils to lead by example and demonstrate their responsibility, it also enables the younger children to learn from a good example.

Each child Year 6 is given the opportunity to apply for the job and their applications then go through a selection process.

Once their application has been successful, the roles are announced in a whole school celebration assembly.

Duties:

Lead and support the children of your House in a variety of House Competitions and whole school events
Work closely with the PE department and Year 6 staff, providing ideas and support for competitions and House related activities
Collect, monitor and announce House Points
Attend regular meetings with the PE department staff
Inspire the children of your House
Be an excellent role model in behaviour, attitude and dress at all times
To support the dinner staff with the running of school lunch times
Showing visitors around the school

Abbeymead PE Leaders

At Abbeymead we recognise the importance of developing not only the children’s physical capabilities but also their leadership skills.

Our P.E. leaders programme provides our children with the opportunity to work alongside coaches, teachers and peers to learn strong leadership skills.

The PE leaders are responsible for:

Organising, sorting and ensuring PE equipment is tidy in the PE cupboard.
Running/helping run activities at lunch/after school
Helping to organise events
Collecting/returning class PE equipment
Assisting the class teacher in PE
Taking part in leadership training to gain qualifications

Ambassador Programme

Each year, we look at the global sporting events taking place and identify Ambassadors to learn about the event, share with the wider community and raise the profile of PE across the school.

2023-24 Olympics Ambassadors - to be recruited in Autumn 2 term

2022/23 - Football World Cup Ambassadors

2021-2022 Commonwealth Games Ambassadors

A group of our Year 5 children took on the role of 'Commonwealth Games Ambassadors'. Their role was to learn about The Commonwealth and the Commonwealth Games and to then share their knowledge with the rest of the school. They went on to organise a whole school Commonwealth Games in line with the actual event. Their hard work was recognised by the Rotary Club and as a result they were invited to join them for lunch and present their ideas to the club. The Rotary Club were so impressed they went on to win tickets to the actual Commonwealth Games.

The Rainbow Council - 2023/2024

More information coming shortly..

A Digital Leader is a pupil who is part of a Digital Leaders Team within a school, whose role it is to support the use and to further the development of ICT in school.

Interested children will need to apply for the position and interviews will be held before appointing Digital Leaders from KS2 and Year 2. The team will then meet regularly at Computing Club.

Pupils are then given training and support to develop specific areas of ICT expertise. Once a pupil gains an area of expertise, staff may then request the use of the Digital Leader for a variety of different roles.

Typically, things that may be performed by a Digital Leader could be:

Test and review new ICT resources, which could be websites, software or hardware.

Share their skills and expertise with other pupils, classes and teachers.

Set up ICT equipment in classrooms for teachers.

Attend and lead Computing Clubs.

Support teachers in using ICT in the classroom.

Digital Leaders Trip to the BETT Show, London

Inclusion Leaders

Our 'Inclusion Leaders' are our pupil voice in terms of how our children work with the members of our support staff in school. They help us to make sure that the teaching and learning in school is accessible to all children, and tell us what works for them and what doesn't with regards to resources and strategies used in the classroom.

Play Leaders

Our school is extremely lucky to have some brilliant play leaders. At lunch time their role is to play with a group of pupils and to organise playground games.

Play Leaders are responsible for the following areas:

Introducing new games,
Supporting children to play safely
Reinforcing Abbeymead's core values,
Taking out and putting away play equipment,
Leading playtime activites

Abbeymead Community Enterprise Group

The Abbeymead Community Enterprise (ACE) Group is made up of the Learning Forum and friends. Their main aim is to come up with ideas and implement community betterment projects. The first one completed this year was distributing free dog poo bags in the local community to encourage people to keep the local area clean.

Abbeymead Community Enterprise Group