Student Voice & 

Positive Environment 

Student Voice and Agency is considered a priority at Wyndham Central College. So much so, that it is one of our college Key Improvement Strategies in our current Annual Implementation Plan (AIP) and a whole school focus. There is so much value in gaining the views, ideas and opinions of the students in how best all staff can cater for their learning and wellbeing.

One such way that this occurs is through our student college leadership team, the SRC. The SRC is led by our year 12’s and college captains, Morrisham Teariki and Riya Saini, and our college vice captains Ashley Schellhorn and Kyaw Hai Hser. 

There is currently an election process with each of the year levels 7-11 for students to select the three students in their year level they feel will best represent their collective voice. 

The year 10’s completed their voting last week, and here are a few pictures of the voting process in the college auditorium.

It is not only important to build the capacity of the SRC representatives, but also others that identify as leaders across the college. There was a great opportunity for this last week when I was able to take ten students who identified themselves as leaders to the 2024 Multicultural Youth Leadership Conference held at the Melbourne Convention centre. The students spent the day listening to a variety of speakers, some of which included a previous college captain who spoke about the challenges he faced and also leaving behind his legacy on the college and the change he was able to make. There was also an eye-opening presentation by Australian Olympian Peter Bol, who presented about his upbringing, the challenges he has faced, overcoming adversity and just following your dreams to see where it takes you. Some of the students were also lucky enough to get a quick photo with him.

There are many other leadership opportunities at the college, including class captain and house captain. Those students elected to those positions will be recognised at assemblies and presented with a badge to wear on their school uniform with pride. 

While it is important for students to take up leadership positions, it is also important to build their skills as leaders. All student leaders across the college will have the opportunity to participate in a whole day leadership development course on Thursday 7th March run by Ylead. This is a great opportunity for students to meet with all other student leaders throughout the College to come together to plan what student voice looks like for 2024 and how they can lead others at the College.

Ashley Rowe - Assistant Principal