Principal Report
Junior School Council @ Oatlands
Early last term students in Grades 3 – 6 were invited to apply to be a part of the Oatlands 2023 Junior School Council (JSC) team.
Junior School Council is a formal group of students within a school, elected by their peers, to represent the students and their views. The JSC will play a positive role in promoting the Oatlands’ values of Respect, Effort, Kindness, Resilience and Creativity; being the voice for all students.
Junior School Council representatives will have the opportunity to develop their skills in being leaders, organisers, positive role models and active members of our community and will contribute to decision making within the school.
Our JSC representatives meet fortnightly during lunchtime and have discussions relating to issues, initiatives, fundraising events etc within the school. Each JSC grade representative reports back to their grade regarding topics discussed and may seek feedback from students. The JSC will identify issues that are important to our students and work together to find solutions that lead to improvements within our school.
I had the pleasure of sitting in on the JSC meeting last week. They revisited minutes from their previous meeting, set goals for what they would like to achieve personally as a JSC representative this year and engaged in active discussions with other JSC members regarding their goal and strategies to help achieve it. There was a great deal of input by all students and great goals around public speaking, building confidence and leadership were shared.
Their upcoming fundraising event was also discussed, and students were asked to choose a role to undertake to ensure that the fundraiser was promoted, organised, clear to all students and successful.
Students nominated themselves for roles they were interested in from the selection below which will assist in the promotion and organisation of the event:
- Newsletter article writers
- Poster creators
- Scout for locations for posters
- Assembly speakers (whole school, Junior year levels & own year levels) to promote the fundraiser, share relevant information and answer any questions
- Engagement officers for senior grades to ensure maximum participation.
A challenge task was also set for the JSC team. They were asked to do a Random Act of Kindness for a friend/family member etc and to promote this within each of their grades and encourage others to do a random act of kindness for someone as well. Feedback regarding this challenge will be shared at their next meeting.
I very much look forward to the positive impact our Junior School Council will have on Oatlands and our wider community.
As you keep scrolling through our newsletter you will come across the National Pyjama Day page which has all the details for the upcoming fundraising event JSC members are participating in. I that hope all students are excited to be a part of this fun event.
Deanne Morgan
