Kids’ Council
At the beginning of every year, each classroom elects two students to be their class representatives at the Reception to Year Seven Kids’ Council meeting which is held once a fortnight. A Kids’ Council representative needs to conduct themselves in a respectful way and be seen as a positive role-model in the school community. The role of the Kids’ Council is to work collaboratively on finding ways to make our school a better place. The council works as a team to raise issues, make recommendations on behalf of their class, creatively solve problems and find ways to organise events which allow for our students to raise money for the school and charities, celebrate success and continuously find ways to improve our school. The Kids’ Council meetings are structured in a way that enables decision making to be done in a democratic setting. The Glenelg Kids’ Council and class meeting forums give everyone in our school the opportunity to voice their opinions and our leaders are then given the appropriate level of responsibility to help implement successful change.
Peer Mediators Programme Year 6
Every year our school runs an extensive recruitment process for those year 6 students who want to be trained as a Peer Mediator. The Peer Mediator programme is designed to give our senior students the opportunity to develop leadership skills and responsibility in our school. The mediators are identified through name badges and by wearing an orange hat in the yard. The peer mediators are trained extensively to assist students in the yard may need help in solving problems and making friends. The mediators hold restorative conversations to repair harmed relationships. When the issue is too big, the Mediators seek teacher support to ensure that the problems are dealt with appropriately. There is also a sorting Out Seat that operates each recess and lunchtime so that students can go to an area for help. These issues are documented so that they can be followed up and monitored in the future.
After being selected into the programme, the students receive training and meet each week with Bobbie Beswick (Assistant Principal) to discuss issues that have occurred. These issues are discussed and strategies are identified for future reference. Role plays are used to practice dialogue and strategies for scenarios that have or may occur in our school. The programme has been running effectively for many years now and is used successfully by all students across the school.