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Posted on November 20th 2016
Students Elect their own Principals
Students at Harris Boys’ Academy East Dulwich have elected two joint student principals to head up the student leadership team.
Shay and Harvey will work with the rest of the team to represent the views of boys to teachers. The team mirrors the staffing structure so that every faculty, hub and student is represented.
Listen to an interview with Shay and Harvey about their role.
"Important decisions"
“It means we get to help make decisions on behalf of the academy,” says Shay. “We’ll be looking at issues including the canteen, extra-curricular activities and the website, to see if it’s good at promoting the students’ work.”
Student leaders meet with teachers every Friday. “We discuss all the students’ ideas and how we can work with teachers to make the school better for everyone,” said Harvey, joint student principal.
Every student's view
“The seven boys who have been elected to be student principals and vice-principals are figureheads for whole academy," said Mr Bray, who co-ordinated the election. "Their role isn’t just to put forward their own ideas but also to represent the views of each of the 750 students at the school.”
Five students were elected vice-principals (see picture below). Anyone who wanted to be considered had to submit an application form and then, if they were shortlisted by teachers, make a short promotional videos saying why students should vote for them. The films were all watched in tutor time and then every student got to vote.
“It was nerve-wracking making the film because you knew the whole school was going to watch it,” says student vice principal, Arthur. “But there was a feeling of accomplishment being chosen to help students have a voice.”
Student leaders pictured with Mr Everitt and Mr Bray. From left: Wesley, Shay, Dillon, Arthur, Aaron, Harvey, and Kojo. Listen to an interview with Shay and Harvey talking about their role as joint student principals.
