Student Leadership

At Halewood Academy, we believe that students should be provided with as many opportunities as possible to develop and practise leadership skills in preparation for life after school, whether they move on to further education or the world of work.  We have various student leadership initiatives taking place in the school and we are extremely proud of the students and the qualities that they display, many of them on a daily basis.  Many of these Student Leadership activities focus upon improving the quality of teaching and learning both in the classroom and as a tool to improve independence.  All of the initiatives support the school’s core values- respect, aspiration, collaboration, aspiration and resilience.

The Student Leadership Accreditation Award

As an incentive to gain a qualification for the exemplification of their skills, students in all year groups have the opportunity to undertake the Student Leadership Accreditation Award.  The awarding body is the SSAT and students can obtain either a bronze, silver or gold award.

What are the benefits of the SLA for pupils? 

For students, the SLA was developed ‘by students, for students’, and it is this focus on the individual that makes the award so popular across SSAT schools. As well as the prestige of accreditation, the process that students go through in becoming accredited is of great benefit in life after school. This process encourages students to: 

Critically self-reflect on their own skills as leaders

Work collaboratively to plan how they will meet the criteria and evidence it

Organise and structure their evidence

Peer assess others’ work against criteria

Aspire to take on increasingly challenging leadership responsibilities

Benefits of the SLA for Schools

For the school, what sets the SLA apart from other awards is its flexibility, allowing schools to adapt it to their needs. Schools can either use the pre-designed criteria or develop their own school-specific criteria – with guidance from SSAT.  In either case, schools use the SLA to:

Engage more students

Celebrate achievements beyond results – SSAT believes that students’ outcomes should not be limited to levels and grades

Provide recognition for students’ leadership abilities – SSAT’s research shows that recognition of non-academic achievement is a ‘hook’ for underperforming students

Give structure to the school’s student voice, leadership or impact activities - SSAT champions student voice and leadership that has a real impact on learning

WE ALREADY HAVE 27 QUALIFIED STUDENT LEADERS IN THE SCHOOL.  THESE PUPILS WEAR THE SAME LANYARD AS THE STAFF AND ARE, THERFORE, ABLE TO BE UTILISED EFFECTIVELY IN LESSONS AS THEY ARE EASILY IDENTIFIABLE.

The Junior Leadership Team

We have a Junior Leadership Team which consists of two members of every year group across the school and these pupils are a fabulous link between the Senior staff in the school and the other students.  They meet with The Headteacher and the Student Leadership Coordinator during PSHE lessons and are able to voice their opinions on many issues.  It is an extremely useful student voice tool which ensures that the students feel heard.

The Student Council

The student Council is completely student run and they pass any issues that they would like addressed to the Junior Leadership Team for discussion at the Meetings with Senior Staff.  There is at least one representative from each year group in the school.