Wellbeing

Student Agency & Voice

At Skye Primary School we are committed to providing our students with a learning environment that inspires them to be their best, as embodied in our Dream, Learn, Achieve motto. We are working on developing student voice and agency throughout the school, enabling our students to be active contributors in their learning and decision-making in our school community. 

Research has found that students who have agency in their learning are more motivated, experience greater satisfaction in their learning, and, consequently, are more likely to achieve academic success (Williams, 2017, p. 10). Students who have agency in their own education also work harder, set higher goals, are more likely to choose challenging tasks, are better at planning, have greater focus and more interest, and are less likely to give up (Johnston, 2004).

Student agency refers to the level of autonomy and power that a student experiences in the learning environment. Student voice and agency are intrinsically linked. Agency gives students the power to direct and take responsibility for their learning, creating independent and self-regulating learners (Amplify, Department of Education, 2019).

At Skye Primary School, we involve our students in co-creating success criteria for their learning and collaborating with their teachers to set their own learning goals. Students have input on their strengths, areas for improvement and reflect on their own achievements which are incorporated by teachers into individual learning plans. Our Student Representative Council (SRC) is comprised of students from year two to year six, representing their year levels. They meet regularly seek ideas from their peers and meet regularly to influence change at the school. 

We value student voice as a means to improving student engagement, wellbeing and quality instruction and are conducting a survey, called the Attitudes to School Survey (AtoSS) to find out what your child thinks of our school. This survey is conducted by the Department of Education to assist schools to gain an understanding of students' perceptions and experience of school. Students will be asked about their thoughts and feelings in relation to their school, their learning, peer relationships, resilience, bullying, health and wellbeing, physical activity, and life in general. Students from years four, five and six are invited to participate in this survey. Further detailed information has been sent out on Sentral to families of these students. 

As a school, we value the information and opinions we get from this student survey. We use this data to identify and celebrate the aspects that are working well for our student body and to determine what our next areas of focus will be to continually improve our school and the learning experience for all our students. 

Reconciliation Walk 2023