Student Representative Council Report

Students at St Columba Anglican School participate in leadership positions at the following levels and capacities:

Primary School Secondary School Captains Captains Vice Captains Vice Captains

House Captains House Captains

SLC Positions Prefects

Student Leaders and Seniors Year Representatives

Leadership in the Secondary School comprises the Senior Leadership Committee (SLC) and Year Representatives. The SLC is composed of the Captains, Vice Captains, House Leaders and Prefects. The Year Representatives involve one female and one male leader per cohort from Years 7 to 11.

As part of the school’s commitment to training student leaders, a number of different activities have been undertaken to provide opportunities for students to observe, develop and model appropriate leadership skills. For Primary School (Year 6) and Secondary School, Leaders Training is provided on a continuing basis throughout the year.

A Senior Studies and Leadership Retreat is held for all Year 10 students in Term 4. The SLC meet weekly and Year Representatives meet fortnightly to discuss student issues and to raise funds for student projects. In addition, students from Years 8 to 12 are eligible to join the Rotary sponsored group Interact, which meets weekly. Interact members actively develop skills in public speaking, event organisation, developing effective teams and communication. They are active in fundraising events, volunteering in the local community and participate in Rotary organised events such as Model United Nations Assembly.

As part of their role as Student Leaders, the SLC students are inducted at two days of leadership training where they have the opportunity to discuss what leadership is and plan their contribution to the school community for their particular year of involvement. A modified program for the Year Representatives is also run where they participate in a one day leadership program held on school grounds.

In the Primary School, all Year 5 students are involved in a leadership day and elected members participate in a Student Leadership Conference, which allows our students to converse and learn with leaders from other schools in the area.

The types of skills that are important for people to lead well include:

ƒ Effective communication ƒ Problem solving skills ƒ Decision making skills ƒ Teamwork skills ƒ The ability to deal with stress and stressful situations ƒ Goal setting ƒ Innovation ƒ Evaluating ƒ Supervising others ƒ Motivation ƒ Time management ƒ Public Speaking.