Alderman Knight School provides many opportunities for young people to develop leadership and representation skills and we entrust pupils with responsibilities matching with their strengths and abilities. We provide pupils with formal leadership opportunities through the House System, School Council, Peer Mentors and a Young Leaders Scheme. These schemes provide benefits for both the pupil and the school. This approach has been proven that when children actively participate in leadership in school life, they feel respected and encouraged to make further contributions. 

 

School Council 

School councillors are voted for by other members of their tutor group to be the representative on the school council. Any member of the tutor group is able to nominate themselves to be voted for, and it is hoped that at least once during a pupil’s school career they will be a school council representative; however, it is not a compulsory element of school life. 

 

All tutor groups are invited to take part in this process if it is deemed a suitable activity for the members of the group. School council reps will be elected two times during the academic year (at the beginning of terms one and term four). 

 

The council will meet once a month; any items for discussion are to be brought to the meeting by the rep and minutes of the meeting are to be fed back to each tutor group by their rep with the support of the tutor team as appropriate. 

 

The School Council is led by Mrs Silverthorn 

 

Peer Mentors 

The Peer Mentoring system is a form of student help. It builds on students’ talking with their peers to discuss concerns, worries and problems. 

It enables confidence and a sense of responsibility to be developed within pupils. 

Peer Mentors are encouraged to play an active role with the community of the school and to form good relationships whilst respecting differences between people. 

Nominations are made by form tutors across upper primary, KS3 and KS4 for pupils to be trained in peer mentoring. 

Peer Mentors will meet once a month to discuss how they are supporting the school. 

 

The Peer Mentors are led by Mr Smith

 

Young Leaders 

This is a scheme for pupils to act as role models within the school community. They are required to work with other pupils and have good relationships with staff. Young leaders will be required to work as part of a team as well as individually in performing their duties. It is important that those in these roles are mature and responsible and can be relied upon by all. 

 

The Young Leader Scheme is only open to pupils in KS4 and it is a process of completing an application form with an interview involving the Pastoral Managers. In the application process, pupils will be required to identify any interest of theirs that they wish to develop leadership skills in e.g. this could be running a lunchtime sports club for primary pupils. 

 

Young leaders may also have shared general responsibilities such as representing the school at external events, being guides at open day, actively engaging with the running of the school council to name but a few. 

 

The Young Leaders Scheme is led by Mr Hunt