Young Leaders in Action

Junior House leaders

leadersYOUNG

IN ACTION

According to Donald McGannon, a devoted advocate for improving the standards of radio and television broadcasting, “leadership is an action, not a position” and that couldn’t be truer at Tanglin. Read on as we chat with Peter O’Brien, Junior School’s Deputy Head of Pastoral, to find out how the student voice is nurtured through leadership roles in the Junior School.

At Junior School, students are given many opportunities to express themselves as well as pursue their interests in various ways. There are also multiple venues for students to explore leadership. While most of us might think of leadership as one individual leading a group of people, this is not the case at Junior School. In fact, it’s a role where students are expected to take action as part of their collective responsibility to improve the school.

Peter explained, “every child is assigned a role in the job squad based on their strengths and preferences. This helps to build stronger connections within the community and has been proven to have a huge positive impact on our children. The roles are also in line with Tanglin’s core values ‘Respect’, ‘Responsibility’ and ‘Purpose’ because they are designed to give each child meaningful opportunities to do their part for the community. Such opportunities increase our children’s selfesteem and sense of wellbeing as well because they feel valued, no matter what their job scope is.”

So, what are these roles and what kind of responsibilities do they entail? Here are some of them:

CLASS REPRESENTATIVES

Two children are appointed in each class to represent their classmates’ concerns, opinions, and ideas. They meet regularly with members of the leadership team (Head of Year, Assistant Heads etc) to work on various projects that are aligned with the school’s strategic planning. One such project was pasting a QR code on each child’s desk in the classroom to make it easier for them to scan and answer questions about their wellbeing during regular check-ins. Class representatives also routinely keep an eye out for students of merit so they can highlight them to the teacher and celebrate their achievements - a great way to motivate everyone else indeed!

As a Gold Rights Respecting School (the only one outside of the UK), Tanglin’s mission is to create a safe and inspiring learning environment for its students. Class representatives support this mission by raising awareness of Article of the Week (a set of learning activities focused on a specific article) and highlighting the importance of a child’s rights in their classrooms and during assemblies.

UNIT REPRESENTATIVES

These are a group of children who represent their respective year groups. Four children per year group are appointed and they are responsible for all aspects of the academic experience ranging from school routines to behaviour. These children are also part of the Student Council in Junior School, so their roles include recruiting members for the Junior School student council and even interviewing candidates for the Senior Head Team as well as the Head Boy/Girl role!

MATHS MENTORS

As the name suggests, these are children who help their peers with mathematical challenges. For example, Year 6’s Maths Mentors have recently been supporting students from other year groups with multiplication tables practices. »

” “ Such opportunities increase our children’s self-esteem and sense of wellbeing as well because they feel valued

Orange Day

MUSIC MAESTROS

These are children who support music lessons and events in the Junior School. Their job is to ensure that such activities go smoothly so they often take on roles such as introducing performers to parent visitors during the lunchtime recitals at Junior School recently.

HOUSE REPRESENTATIVES

Need a job done in the name of Tanglin’s eight Houses? Then these are the children to look out for. They don’t just represent their respective Houses; they also lead school assemblies and work with Mr Matthew Hastwell (Head of Houses) and adult House leaders to raise the profile of each House. This is a big responsibility, given that the Houses were just introduced last year (issue 36, The Voice) amidst COVID restrictions, but these children are ready and raring to make a difference.

Another group of children who are just as important to the inner workings of each House are the House Point Moderators. As the name suggests, their role is to monitor the points that each House is given and ensure that all House points are calculated properly.

FRIENDSHIP CAPTAIN

Children who work well with younger ones are known as Friendship Captains. Their responsibility is to interact with Infant children. One of the ways they do that is to familiarise themselves with new playground equipment at Infant School so they can create a more inclusive environment for the Infant children. On top of that, they utilise their experience with playground equipment and contribute to the design for the refurbishment of a playground at Junior School this year. events that raise community awareness on issues such as childhood cancer, feeding the needy as well as educating impoverished children in developing countries. Philanthropists contribute to charity initiatives such as Orange Day and book swaps, but they also rally their peers and help foster a sense of community within the school.

SKILLS FOR THE FUTURE

These are just a few of the important roles that Junior children take on, but no matter what role they are appointed to, there are valuable opportunities for them to learn 21st century skills like collaboration, communication, creativity, and critical thinking. Each Junior child is assigned eight different roles a year, so they can experience a variety of responsibilities that encourage them to step out of their comfort zone.

While children are encouraged to be healthy risk takers, they learn to assess their abilities with the help of an assigned teacher who will discuss the role with them and how they could make it better. Peter said, “Before the pandemic, such roles typically took them across the school campus, and enabled them to work with different people and children from various schools. Although such interactions are limited for now, we hope that we can eventually open up the restrictions so our Junior School children can enjoy a more holistic experience. But in the meantime, I would say they are all doing a great job!” ■