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In 2019, the Student Representative Council made leaps and bounds in student leadership at the college. The 2019 team members were:

Year 12 (SCHOOL CAPTAINS): Kayleigh Hower, Leigh Gibson, Velda Vee, Mikey Usaraga

Year 11: Kyalla Sibley, Tyler Bushell, Joshua Bradford, Georgia Sinadinov

Year 10: Alicia Dorning, Jordan Minter

Year 9: Prathana Maharaj, Jordan Budiono

Year 8: Bianca Buckley, Casper Trayessa

Year 7: Ella Monks, Connor Krizmacic

A dynamic team comprising of students from Year seven to Year twelve paved the way for students in non-leadership positions to get involved and make a positive change within the school community. I have learnt more from my student leaders this year than what I have taught them about being a good leader. I have seen them lift each other up and always be ready to give a helping hand where needed. I have seen them being kind and respectful to those around them. I have seen them be passionate about issues that affect their peers and most importantly I have seen them be good human beings all without a single reminder. This is who they are and what they stand for, which makes us all very proud to have them at our college.

This year began with the commencement of Toastie Club under the SRC banner. Originating as a Wellbeing initiative to ensure all students are provided with a lunch option, the student leaders jumped on board to ensure its continuity by offering rosters to any students wanting to volunteer and time at lunchtimes to help distribute these to students. The students extended their voluntary work by making the toasties themselves, sourcing ingredients via donations and working with organisations such as EatUp. A key member of this initiative was Alicia Dorning who chose to make Toastie Club her project for her Year 10 elective Launch into Leadership.

Student leaders worked collaboratively throughout the year to create and organise free dress days each term. The student leaders from each year level were responsible for one free dress day. This meant rather than the whole group taking responsibility for the planning, there was two students who planned and executed the event from start to finish with the remaining SRC students providing assistance on the day. The opportunity allowed for student leaders to take on ownership over their work and they took full accountability of their decisions. Collectively, the SRC raised approximately $6000 for various charities they had invested interests in. Funds raised went to World Vision, Royal Childrens’ Hospital, Kids with Cancer Foundation and victims of Christchurch shootings. In addition, the SRC attended various events such as the GRIP leadership conference, Class Captains training sessions, World Vision Youth Conference to build on leadership skills and ways of best to utilise these in their daily work back at the college.

The SRC played a key role in the launch of School-Wide Positive Behaviour Support. Kyalla Sibley and Bianca Buckley were the student representatives on the PBS team for 2019. Both girls played a crucial role in ensuring student voice was heard and worked with experienced teachers, assistant principal Catherine Gilchrist and the PBS Leader Karie Hullin to gather data from students, work on a creation of a behaviour matrix and collect feedback from the whole school on X-Change items utilised by students who earn credits from their teachers for displaying behaviours that are Safe, Respectful and Responsible.

Performing Arts Captains were added to the student leadership positions with Hector Begeo and Imogen Schoemaker taking the newly created positions and running with the opportunity. The students worked actively with the Performing Arts Leader Simone Wright in organising and running of various Performing Arts events across the college. These students have created big shoes to fill for 2020 candidates and we hope to continue their great work in the future.

Going into 2020, the college is excited to announce further student leadership positions such as Toastie Club Captains and Environmental Captains. These positions with allow students who may not be interested in year level leadership to join initiatives they are truly passionate about and make a change that aligns with their beliefs. There is something for all our students to get involved with and with the success of 2019, we wish to continue offering our students more opportunities to develop as student leaders in the years to come.

I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate Leigh Gibson for receiving the Year 12 ADF Long Tan Award and Alicia Dorning for receiving the Year 10 ADF Long Tan Award. Both of these students showed incredible leadership during the year. They continually put the needs of the college ahead of their own and met deadlines with perfection each time. They displayed leadership characters such as empathy, kindness, respect, resilience and motivated their peers to follow in their footsteps. As a college, we are proud to have such amazing students in our student leadership team and their work has represented our college in a positive light throughout the year. Well done Leigh and Alicia.