At Oldway Primary School, we feel it is important that the pupil’s thoughts and opinions are considered in order to best meet their needs.  We have a wide range of student leaders including an active school council which spans across the school. They meet regularly to discuss school improvement areas.  All of these pupils have been voted into role by their peers in the Autumn term.  Every pupil has the opportunity to nominate themselves and explain why they think that they are suitable for the role and their classmates then vote for the candidate that they consider to be the most suitable.

Eco warriors are also appointed in every class to ensure that our school can run in the most environmentally friendly way possible.

We also have year 6 leaders. These are pupils who display model behaviour and act as role models to their peers. They have been voted in democratically.  These pupils take on increasing responsibility as their term progresses and lead our KS2 celebration assemblies.

The majority of our year 6s have further roles and responsibilities across the school, including duties as librarians, sports leaders, IT support, lunchtime play leaders, craft leaders, chess tutors and school office monitors.

All year 6 pupils have the opportunity to complete the Devon Civic award which is a Torbay based scheme where children commit to achieving:

Active Citizenship in their school community

This could be  Peer Mediation, Reading Buddies, School Council or other positions of trust and responsibility in school. 

Active Citizenship in their home communities.

In the past, pupils have  taken part in beach cleans, bulb planting, helping at Brownies /Cubs/sports clubs and looking after people in the community. Pupils may also work with others to organise events in school to support local charities. Children may, of course, get involved with events out of school but responsibility for this will lie with parents.

An active hobby(ies)

A non-active hobby (ies)

Children should spend about 30 minutes on average  a week on their hobbies and one of them needs to be new to the child from September 2019.

Residential experience and adventure training
In the Summer term, the children will be assessed by a member of the governing body and if they are deemed to have passed the award, they will be invited to a formal awards ceremony.

The annual Children’s Parliament competition is an offer that the trust, in collaboration with the local authority, extends to all year 5 children across Torbay.  It’s an exciting opportunity for children to present their views to adults of influence and to see that they really can make a difference in a political way. Schools invite their Year 5 pupils to enter an in-school competition in teams of 4 where they present their views on the chosen topic, including highlighting any research that they have done on the issue raised. The in-school ‘winners’ become the school’s elected representatives at the Children’s Parliament event that takes place at Torquay Town Hall or at the Riviera International Centre  The winning school team is awarded a prize of a visit to the Houses of Parliament, and a trophy for their school, as well as individual medals and an Amazon voucher for their school.

In year 5, the children are given the opportunity to apply and train to be a mental health ambassador.  These children are supported by our Family Support Worker who guides them in strategies to support their peers and promote positive mental well-being.

Alternatively, year 5 pupils can opt to become digital leaders.  Both digital whizzes and more reluctant computing users work alongside one another.

Pupils in year 5 and 6 are also trained to be water safety leaders.  With the luxury of having our onsite swimming pool, we feel that is of paramount importance, given our locality being so close to the beach, that all pupils can swim.  Our water safety leaders promote water safety and lead assemblies.

Within classrooms, monitors are appointed and are regularly changed to ensure that pupil responsibility is promoted.

If pupils have suggestions of further roles and responsibilities that they would like to take on, we always welcome them.