Student Leadership
Student Leadership at Bedale High School: An Overview
Student Leadership is an important part of our vision and commitment to students. We have high aspirations for our students and believe that developing them as leaders plays a key role in community transformation and improving their life chances.
We aim to give students the confidence and oracy skills needed to navigate themselves in elite spaces later in life as well as the skills needed to lead and promote positive change in their own communities.
We will equip all students with the skills, abilities, attributes and qualifications to pursue a fulfilling career, contribute positively to their communities and be active, global citizens.
Student Leaders form an integral part of the Student Voice process and have the opportunity to meet regularly with the Senior Leadership Team and effect real change in the school. We aim to make our Student Leadership team diverse and representative of our student body.
The Student Leadership Team
At the beginning of each academic year, elections are held within every tutor group to elect a Student Leader, who will represent the tutor group at regular Student Leadership Team meetings. At these meetings, these students represent the views of all the pupils and consider ways to improve their school. We firmly believe that young people have unique perspectives on learning, teaching and schooling in general and we encourage students to think about how to enact their understanding of human rights and responsibilities in practical ways. It gives them direct experience of debating and negotiating issues and see the ‘bigger picture’ of how the whole school is run. Following each meeting, Student Leaders feedback to their form group and leads a discussion that will be used to inform subsequent meeting.
Student Leaders attend regular meetings with Mr. Childe (Assistant Headteacher), and they also meet with the Headteacher, Mr. Stokes, once a term. This provides a platform to discuss what they think is working well within the school and where they think improvements can be made. Student Leaders play an active role in representing our school at key events such as Open Evening and Parent Consultation Evenings. They also play an important role in helping to interview new prospective staff and within our Quality Assurance procedures.
Our Student Leaders have done a tremendous job at having a significant impact on enhancing the student experience. For example, they:
- Initiated the establishment of daily Breakfast Club, so that all students were able to get something to eat and drink before the school day starts
- Chose the ‘theme’ for the school’s new House System
- Played a major role in instigating improvements to student social areas inside and outside school; for example, we now have a ‘Key Stage 4 Common Room’ that is available to students every break and lunchtime
- Provided feedback about their ‘student experience’ about learning environments around the school that informed decisions in relation to our refurbishment programme
- Placed water fountains in every building of the school
- Helped us improve further the way our Positive Behaviour system is used across the school
- Led to the introduction of a One-Way system to facilitate improved access around the school building at transition times
- A number of changes have been made to student uniform rules as a result of student feedback in our student leaders’ meetings
About Us
Bedale High School is a high performing coeducational, community school situated on Fitzalan Road, Bedale, North Yorkshire, England. Our Core Values of Courage, Commitment and Compassion ensure that our students operate in a nurturing school environment and go on to achieve great success at the end of year 11.
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