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Roles, recruitment and selection process
Senior Leader As mentioned above, ideally you will have a named lead on the senior leadership team who will be responsible for overseeing the programme. This active support is important to ensure the programme is embedded in the school’s ethos.
Coordinator The coordinator is the adult in school who will be accountable and responsible for the pupil wellbeing champion programme. The duties of this role include recruiting pupil champions, delivering the pupil champion training, overseeing the promotion of the programme, risk assessing the programme, overseeing the work of the champions and supporting them when necessary, liaising with parents, staff, Senior Leadership Team or governors regarding the programme when necessary, collating information and data, reviewing, evaluating and amending the work of the programme as necessary.
Support staff Depending on the size of your school, it may be appropriate to have additional staff involved who are able to support the programme. This may be at the training session, supporting the champions, or to step in if the coordinator is absent or if the coordinator leaves.
Pupil wellbeing champions The role of the pupil wellbeing champions is to raise awareness about wellbeing in their school and to break down stigma on this topic. The champions themselves should have autonomy over how they go about this, for example they may like a dedicated physical space, a break time drop in, or they might like to wear an identifier such as a wristband, but some general anticipated duties include: • preparing for and presenting on the topic of wellbeing in assemblies or lessons • creating promotional materials such as posters, display boards and newsletters etc. • normalising conversations around feelings and emotions • suggesting sources of support to their peers.
Recruitment and selection process Initially the coordinator will need to circulate some introductory information about the programme to pupils, including: • what the programme is about • information about the role of the pupil wellbeing champions and training available • invitation to apply for a champion role.
This could be through your normal avenues of information sharing in your setting but suggestions include fl yers, newsletters or through presentations in assembly.
A formal application process will be useful in communicating the importance of the role and will give credibility to those who are successful. As part of the recruitment and selection process, the coordinator might wish to ask pupils to write a letter stating why they think they would be good for the role, or complete and return an application form by a certain date (including parental consent), shortlist applicants and inform them of an interview time, date and location and what to expect, interview candidates sensitively, select successful pupils and inform all interviewees of the outcome with feedback.
See example documentation on page 27.
