Student Leadership Opportunities - Student Agency and Participation

At St Joseph's our Year 6 students are involved in a multitude of ways to exercise their leadership qualities, through formal roles such as School Captains, Sustainability Leaders, DRI Ambassadors, Student Action Council representatives and House Captains. However, frequent opportunities to organise student-led lunchtime competitions, lead assemblies, attend ceremonies and events and perform tasks of responsibility within the school are also offered and are equally beneficial for promoting student agency, participation and empowerment.

YEAR 6 LUNCHTIME NETBALL COMPETITION

The past three weeks we have seen students from Years 3-6 delighting in their participation within our Student-Led Lunchtime Mixed Netball Competition. It has been great seeing students so engaged during their break times. While it was a co-designed initiative, it has been planned, organised and facilitated purely by our Year 6 leaders each lunchtime. Students from all levels have enhanced their netball skills, learnt about scoring, being a captain/ manager of a team, calculating fixtures and ladders, with some also learning how to umpire. They have been placed in fair, even teams from across all four year levels, which has assisted with their development of teamwork and relationship skills. Spirit Awards have been awarded by umpires of each match for sportsmanship and inclusion displayed by players which will be presented at next week's assembly by our Program Organisers, Issy, Summer, Ali and Sonny. Here are a few photos captured last week:

Here's what some of the students are saying about the Lunchtime Netball Competition:

Isabella (Year 3):

"My favourite part of doing the netball is the teamwork and if someone makes a mistake, they pass it back to them to have another go. My team, the Magpies, haven't won a game yet, but we keep trying and we hope to win the next match. I like how lots of people are participating and are trying their best."

Kye D (Year 5):

"I like playing netball at lunchtime because o do not know who will win and if yo miss the goal your team mates say "Good try! Maybe next time you'll get it!" I like it how no one gets left out."

Archie (Year 4):

"My favourite thing in the lunchtime comp is the teamwork and effort everyone puts in. I like that it's fair too with the umpiring and that everyone gets a chance to try new netball positions."

Maggie (Year 3):

"What I like about our lunchtime netball is that it includes all Years 3 to 6s that want to play and every half time you change your positions and you get to have a say in your position. The Year 6s do a great job of running the competition as leaders of our school."

Allowing our Year 6s opportunities in student voice, agency and empowerment, allows them the chance to have a say in decisions that affect them and their learning, which "enables them to flourish and grow in confidence as curious, optimistic and inspired knowledge-builders, problem solvers, conceptual thinkers and self-motivated learners." (MACS: Horizons of Hope, 2017, p. 5)

Who ARE our Year 6 Leaders?

Student Profile : One of our Year 6 Sustainability Leaders - JAMES BARBOUNIS

How old are you? 11 years old

Do you have pets? Yes, a dog and chickens

What was the last book you read? 'Wings of Fire'

What are your favourite foods? Pizza and Pastitsio (like lasagna)

Do you have any brothers or sisters? Yes, two older brothers.

How do you spend your free time? Sports, TV, reading books and playing board games.

What is something you do well? I’m good at sports and mathematics.

Which sports do you like? I love soccer, AFL and tennis.

What do you want to be when you grow up? I want to be a chef.

What is something that you are afraid of? Spiders!!

What subjects do you like best? Mathematics.

What are you looking forward to most in Year 6? I’m looking forward to being a leader and contributing more to our school.

What a spectacular leader we have here in James, one of our Sustainability Leaders!

We look forward to introducing you to some of our other Year 6 Leaders in future editions of our newsletter.

Kind Regards,

Jenny Todd

(Student Wellbeing Leader)

The Fathering Project