Leadership is something we feel passionately about at Alexander Hosea and therefore we ensure we offer the children across the school, as many opportunities as possible to develop their leadership skills.

In Reception, this starts with leading their line when walking through the school and learning from each other; the roles and responsibilities increase as they progress through the school.

In Key Stage 1, the children continue to lead the line and have a helper at the back too. They take responsibility for taking the lunch trolley to and from the hall, taking messages to the office, handing things out and carrying out general jobs around the classroom.

In lower Key Stage 2, these roles remain, but the class leaders of the week also organise learning resources and put the visual timetable on the board. Children are also chosen to be learning buddies and digital leaders.

Our Year 5 and Year 6 children have added responsibilities, which include being play pals (supporting younger members of the school community at break and lunchtime), office assistants and sports' leaders. 

We provide opportunities for pupils to go through a ‘real life’ recruitment process for the positions of Office Assistants and Play Pals. The posts are advertised with a person specification. They then write a job application using this. Applicants are interviewed, selected and then trained for the role, taking account of their responsibilities and the necessary skills to perform these to a high standard.

This is what the pupils say about their leadership roles in school:

“I think being an office assistant is a great opportunity to be responsible for the school and other people”.

“I enjoy being an office assistant because you gain lots of skills whilst helping people as well. It is a good way to make you feel like you have a responsibility.”

We also teach British Values through the democratic process of voting for our:

• Eight Y6 House Captains/Vice Captains
• 2 Pupil Council Representatives from each class

          

The Y6 children also lead ‘peer group’ sessions on a termly basis. These involve children from every class having a say in a topical school matter, or being involved in a school project (e.g. planting out bedding in our school flower beds).

Our Eco committee are leaders who promote looking after our school, local and global environments through membership of the Eco-club. Their responsibility is to raise awareness and ensure the school community is eco-friendly.

Children also volunteer to be librarians; they take responsibility for keeping the library tidy and well-organised.

Pupils learn about the skills and attributes required to be a great leader, through the citizenship aspects of the curriculum and through RE. 

When provided with these opportunities, we have seen children develop strong leadership skills and they are proud of the impact they have on younger pupils - preparing them well for secondary school and for the future beyond.