Student Voice, Agency and Leadership
At Bonbeach Primary School, we believe learning is a collaborative process between students and teachers. We know that students are more engaged and have improved outcomes and attitudes towards school when they feel a part of their own learning process. Bonbeach Primary School defines the terms of voice, agency and leadership as:
Student Voice: involving students in the decisions made about their learning. This includes what they learn, how they learn it and how their learning is assessed.
Students Agency: fostering an environment and explicitly teaching skills that promote student autonomy and independence and a sense of responsibility over their learning.
Student Leadership: leading by listening, representing others and advocating for their peers.
We value the voice and feedback of our students and hold regular class meetings across the school to discuss what students are enjoying and finding challenging as well as suggestions for the future. Teachers then use this information to drive practice in their classrooms and include more of what students are wanting to see.
Student Representative Council
Bonbeach Primary School’s Student Representative Council (SRC) serves to advocate for the students. They represent student voice within the school and actively contribute to the operations of the school by putting forward the opinions, ideas and concerns of students. They review feedback collected from Class Meetings and see what change they can affect, hold termly fundraisers, review school policies and more. There is an application process and it is peer voted.
Student Leadership
Year 6 students at Bonbeach Primary School are provided with opportunities to lead in a variety of roles. They participate in learning throughout the year focussing on the qualities of a good leader and developing their leadership skills. We currently offer the following leadership opportunities:
Peer Mediation Program
At Bonbeach Primary School we aim to equip senior students with the skills and knowledge to be able to resolve low level conflicts in the yard through a Peer Mediation Program. This endeavours to further contribute to a positive, safe and friendly school environment.
Peer Mediation at BPS strives for:
Peer Mediators participate in a Peer Mediation Training Day at the beginning of the year to learn and practise relevant skills for the role. They then work in the yard at recess and lunch times, helping students resolve minor conflicts like not having anyone to play with, sharing, disagreements etc.
