Senior and middle leaders held a number of reflective discussions where they explored their understanding of what pupil leadership means to them, why it matters and how it links to learning, engagement, school improvement and the realisation of national reform. They evaluated current provision and as a result, they created a number of new systems to strengthen opportunities for further development of pupil leadership in the school.
The introduction of a Curriculum Consultant Group has been fundamental in ensuring pupil leadership is developed with a particular focus on curriculum design. The school has appointed 47 pupils to act as Curriculum Consultants across all year groups. They have worked with teaching staff, senior leaders, fellow pupils and stakeholders, shaping and designing the school’s response to Curriculum for Wales and all elements of the National Mission. The team of Curriculum Consultants has been constructed to ensure it is representative of the school community and has recently been focusing on developing the school’s response to cross-cutting themes by ensuring that schemes of learning celebrate diversity and promote equality. Curriculum Consultants meet every half term and have gained a detailed working knowledge of the process of curriculum design. They attend regular AOLE planning days with middle leaders and are regularly involved in collaborative planning and enquiry projects. Curriculum consultants ensure that pupils have an authentic role in curriculum design and have been fundamental in creating the school’s vision for Curriculum for Wales.
In order to further develop its whole school approach to diversity, the school has also created a PRIDE group and Neurodiversity group. These groups create opportunities to develop pupil leadership with a particular focus on representation, inclusion and diversity. Learners meet regularly and have taken a leading role in evaluating initial response to curriculum design and then collaborating with staff to discuss opportunities for development of diversity within curriculum design and all aspects of school life.
The Curriculum Consultants, Pride and Neurodiversity groups complement the already firmly established school council, subject specific learner voice groups and peer to peer mentoring programme. Work was undertaken to establish clear roles for each pupil leadership pathway. The school council mission statement was revisited to reflect the ways in which the different pupil leadership opportunities would triangulate and collaborate. The school council have focused on evaluating and contributing to curriculum design with a focus on developing UNCRC and most recently can be credited with the role they played in obtaining an award for the school’s work on respecting the rights of children and young people. Sub groups from the school council take an active leadership role in developing learning and teaching as each department has appointed subject specific prefects who regularly consult with learners and teaching staff to ensure that views are represented appropriately. This also feeds into the whole school monitoring and evaluation cycle. Student leadership has been further developed by the creation of Environment, Community, Charity and Well-being Sub Groups.
