"Children of today are the leaders of tomorrow and education is a very important weapon to prepare children for their future roles as leaders of the community.” - Nelson Mandela

At FPJS, we have created purposeful leadership roles for our pupils. These roles aim to stretch and challenge the pupils to become young leaders and role models for the other children in the school.

Our pupils are, simply, fantastic! By supporting their leadership development, we are extending not only developing them as future leaders but also building skills and attributes to succeed as young adults; including confidence, self-esteem, communication and language.

Below are some examples of the leadership roles available at FPJS.

Head Students

At the beginning of year 6, the year 6 pupils apply for the roles of Head Students. The applicants present their vision for the school and explain how they will support the pupils within our school community to the year 6 cohort. The final applicants for the roles present to the whole school community (over 400 staff and pupils). As part of a democratic process and following strict voting regulations, the school community then votes for the two Head Students that they would like to lead the pupil body.

The successful Head Students lead the pupil body. This includes but not limited to:

• representing the school at key events

• public speaking at school events

• celebrating success in weekly celebration assemblies; including running their own fun and engaging competition for the classes

• meeting the school leadership team to agree projects for school site development

• lead roles in school and eco councils

• gathering views of the pupils and presenting these to the school leadership team.

School council

Every class has a school council representative who has been voted in by their classmates. The applicants present to their class on ‘why they would make a good school council representative’ and what skills they have for this role. The voting is a democratic process.

The school council meet frequently with the Head Students and the lead teacher. The council’s roles are to:

• represent the views of their class

• take views to the leadership to support positive change and development in school

• ensure any worries or concerns are addressed

• look at new ways to further the experience for our school community

A recent visit from our Local Member of Parliament gave our school council the opportunity to quiz the MP on school and local area matters. This was followed up with a trip to Parliament to see it in action.

Eco Warriors and Eco Reps

Children, across all four year groups, applied for the role by writing to the School Council lead teacher to persuade the teacher why they would be a good choice for this role.  Six children were then picked to join the school council as experts on all things eco. 

An additional eight children were chosen to become eco- warriors.  These children will support their classes in their bid to become eco-friendlier throughout the year.

The eco teams meet frequently with the Head Students and the lead teacher. Their roles include:

• representing the views of their class and wider school

• look at opportunities for changes to school practice to support the school to be as eco-friendly as it can

• compete the climate action plan and work towards the targets

House and Vice House Captains

At the beginning of year 6, the year 6 pupils apply for the roles of House Captains for their school House.

FPJS has a strong tradition with the House system with the House names going back decades. Families are given the opportunity for their child/children to be part of the same House that the parent was, whilst at FPJS.

The year 6 applicants present to their House (all year groups and staff) why they should be the House Captain. The House then votes. The voting is a democratic process.

The two children with the most votes are elected House Captains and the next two are elected Vice House Captains.

The House and Vice House Captain’s roles are to:

• represent the views of their House

• support the leadership of Inter-House competitions; including roles and young sports leaders

• promote their house in a positive way

Play leaders

Outstanding young sport leaders are trained as break time play leaders. These leaders support year 3 and year 4 play at break time; organising games and challenges for the children to take part in.

This not only supports the year 3 and 4 pupil’s will positive play and opportunities for the pupils to play with children outside of their friendship group, it also helps develop our future leaders in a role in which they feel confident.

Librarians

At FPJS, we have a team of volunteer year 6 librarians who help run our library. The librarians are trained to use as online system to log books out for children as well as logging the books back in. The Librarians also ensure that the books are in the right place and put books on display for the children to see and read.

Two librarians per week select a book each to showcase in the weekly celebration assembly.

We also have some Librarians that help run the library at our federated school, FPIS. The role is the same as at FPJS.

Digital Leaders

Two pupils from each class are appointed Digital Leaders. These are pupils that are confident using technology, especially when coding. The Digital Leaders are trained and supported by our Computing lead teacher and the children take on the following roles.

• supporting and developing our use of ICT at school; including in computing lessons

• sharing their skills and expertise with others

• attending coding clubs

• trialling new opportunities and resources to test and try out

Wellbeing warriors

RBWM’s Wellbeing team lead annual training for six children to attend per school. The whole day training is off site and the children attending complete the training with peers from other local schools. At the end of the training, the children, with a teacher supporting, decide upon a wellbeing action to take part in at school.

This year, our year 5 Wellbeing Warriors have joined with our Wellbeing Leadership Team (staff) to help launch and run our FPPF Rainbow Wellbeing Challenges; including presenting the challenges through school assemblies and reviewing completed challenges with all classes from Reception up to year 6.

Reading Buddies

A team of year 6 pupils have a weekly slot where they go to the Reception classes, at FPIS, to read to the children. This supports our aim for the younger children of our federation to be read books and to explore books, as well as giving our older pupils the trust to inspire our children to read. It is also a lovely, relaxing session during the busy day.

Buddies and mentors

Whilst the roles above allow opportunities for lots of pupils, all of our pupils also relish the opportunity to buddy new pupils to the school and mentor children in lessons.

Year 2 children transferring to FPJS are buddied by a current year 3 (to be year 4) pupil. The children play together at breaktime, show the year 2 child the site and also support the year 2s with reading at events such as World Book Day. Building ties between the two federated schools.

Our children are keen to support other pupils in class with their learning. This can be through allocated roles such as Digital Leaders but also day to day. One of our ‘5B’s for support in class’ is ‘Buddy’. This gives all of our pupils the opportunity to support each other in class; especially in subjects that the child feels confident in explaining and supporting.

Additional to this, every classroom has leadership roles for the children. Ranging from buddying new starters, to water bottle and lunch box monitors to organising resources.

We are passionate about developing our pupils as young adults and future leaders!

"You gain strength, courage and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You must do the thing you think you cannot do." - Eleanor Roosevelt