Student Ambassadors

"Pupils take advantage of the many opportunities to develop leadership skills, which prepare them well for their future adult lives. For example, pupil ambassadors influence school improvement planning and are consulted over a range of strategic decisions."   

Our student Leadership in the form of Ambassadors has gone from strength to strength over the last few years. Across the whole school we have 130 student Ambassadors taking on a number of important leadership roles. All Ambassadors have been through a stringent application process consisting of completing an application form as well as a formal interview with their College Leadership staff and some of the older Ambassadors. The older Ambassadors have also spent time observing the applicants in their lessons over the period of a week. The successful students are then given their Ambassador positions.

MIDDLE SCHOOL:

We currently have 70 Middle School Ambassadors taken from Hoy, Ennis and Redgrave Colleges. They all choose to be part of one of three focus sub groups which relate to the three main school focuses of Teaching and Learning, Rewards and Environment and Behaviour and Safety. Each Sub group is led by a member of the Senior Leadership Team and meet regularly on their specific focuses.

UPPER SCHOOL (YEAR 10):

The Upper School Ambassadors work within their Year groups in all areas of school life. The Head of Year lead their team on various projects in similar ways to the Middle School Ambassadors.

6TH FORM:

There is a 6th Form Student Leadership Committee who work under the guidance of our Head of 6th Form. They work on ways to celebrate all the great things that happen in the 6th form and also on ways to further improve our practice to bring about the highest standards and raise the levels of progress as much as possible.

HEAD STUDENTS:

Middle School: Each year we have elected Head Boys and Girls for each of the three Colleges in the Middle School. These students have to run campaigns and attend hustings so they can express why they would be the best person for the job. All the students in each college then vote for their winners in a true democratic process.

Upper School: We have the prestigious positions of whole school Head Boy/Girl which are elected from the 6th Form in the same process as in the Middle School. The 6th Form Head Boy and girl work hard across key stage 3, 4 and 5 and are true roles models that we are immensely proud of.

At Barnwell we strongly value the opportunity to develop our students as leaders. These are important positions of responsibility that require students to take a full and active role in the life of the school. The Barnwell Ambassadors are the representatives of the student voice and role models of the School. They have three clear areas that as a team they work on to improve student opportunities at Barnwell:

TEACHING AND LEARNING AIM:

To support the development and improvement of teaching and student learning (for all students and specific groups). Current Focus: Homework – amount being set and the impact it has on achievement

REWARDS AND ENVIRONMENT AIM:

To improve the learning environment for students during social time.Current Focus: creating quiet places for students to learn before, during and after school. Students wanted computer access and access to support after school.

CLIMATE FOR LEARNING AIM:

To monitor and identify strategies to support the learning at the upper campus (reduce the number of concerns that prevent learning) Current Focus: Low Level Disruption – impact on learning, consistency and sanctions

GENERAL DUTIES:

As well as working in their sub group committees the students work on a variety of pastoral issues and help out across the school in a plethora of activities and events.

• They raise money for lots of charities throughout the year
• They lead assemblies and form time activities
• They act as ‘Student Voice’ for their forms and Colleges
• They attend Senior Leadership meetings
• They help out with daily duties around the school at break and lunchtimes
• They mentor new students to the school and are a real strength of our transition work with our local feeder primary schools
• They help out at school events through the year such as parents evenings and new intake evenings
• We are also very proud to have student panels for all new staff interviews. This gives the students a real insight in to the interview process and means they have a real say in the staff that Barnwell School employ.