Leadership Program
The three strands of the leadership program for students involve the Senior Student process (badge), Captaincy roles and the broader development of their leadership skills.
The first step in our Leadership Program is for students to become a Senior Student. This position must be earned and carries with it certain expectations and responsibilities.
Your child will be required to record his/her capacity to be a good citizen, demonstrate a long term commitment to a group or role, as well as displaying adequate communication skills.
Students will receive a yellow Record Card which outlines the process and on which they can record their responses to the eligibility criteria. Some discussion may help your child to decide which of their day to day or weekly activities will help them to satisfy each criterion.
When completed, the card is to be presented to the class teacher for a behaviour check. It is then submitted along with a quality reference, preferably on letterhead and clearly stating the referee’s name and relationship to your child, to the school administration for processing.
The Senior Student badge will be presented on a Senior (Years 3-6) Assembly at a later date. The Parents and Citizens Association funds the cost of the badges for our Senior Students.
It is important to understand that only Senior Students are eligible for selection as a School, Arts or House captain. Students wishing to nominate for Arts Captain need to be current members of an Arts club (Senior Choir/Boys' Choir, Dance Club or Drama Club) and also part of the school Instrumental Music program.
Your child’s teacher will continue to foster the development of student leadership skills through both formal and informal activities and discussions until the end of the year. Additional leadership opportunities will be provided during the following year including other secondary leadership roles such as Tech Team, Dance Tutor, Drama Leader and Library Monitor.
Student Leader Selection Process:
During Term 4 of Year 5, students are invited to nominate for a Student Leadership position for the following year, by completing a written response to three questions and indicating their preference for a specific leadership role (School Captain or Vice-Captain, Arts Captain, House Captain).
The Year 5 teaching team, specialist teachers and Deputy Principal meet to read and discuss these nomination forms. During this part of the process, a shortlist for each of the positions is created. This list is announced to the students as a cohort.
Students shortlisted for School Captain and Vice-Captain positions take part in an individual interview the following week with the Year 3 and Year 4/5/6 Deputy Principals. The interview is conducted in a very friendly and supportive manner involving asking the shortlisted candidates a series of questions. Interviews are aimed at encouraging students to give the best responses possible. The shortlist is then reduced further.
Following the interviews, both successful and unsuccessful candidates are informed individually by the Deputy Principal, praised for their efforts and conduct during the interview, regardless of the outcome.
Candidates shortlisted for School Captain and Vice-Captain roles are required to give a speech to their year level cohort the following day, after which staff and students vote.
Following this, candidates shortlisted for House Captains give a very short speech to the team members of their sports house only; usually the following day, candidates shortlisted for Arts Captains present a short speech to the instrumental music students. Voting occurs after speeches are given.
Announcement of the successful candidates takes place at the whole school assembly at the end of the school year, usually on the Tuesday of the final week of school. Prior to the announcement, the Principal congratulates all of the students in Year 5 who have achieved a Senior Student badge, and particularly those who had been successful in being shortlisted, but acknowledging that there are only 16 official student leadership positions in any calendar year. All parents are welcome to attend this whole school assembly.
Further opportunities for selected Student Leaders:
Those students selected as Student Leaders (School Captains and Vice-Captains, Arts Captains and House Captains) have the opportunity to participate in a range of further activities to develop their leadership skills. These opportunities include a special leadership day for our cluster of primary schools called the LEAP Day and the
Young Leaders' Day for students leaders across Queensland, held annually at the Brisbane Convention Centre.
Student Representative Council (SRC)
The SRC is a student body within the school that represents students and promotes their views and participation in school decision-making. The council also aims to promote school spirit and student leadership while experiencing democracy at work. Students are involved in identifying and solving real problems that are raised at SRC meetings.
At Albany Hills, members of the SRC include School, Music and House Captains along with an elected executive from Year 6 classes. Councillors are elected from Years 3-6 with our Year 6 students representing Prep-Year 2 classes.
Each year we raise money for a variety of charities. In recent years this has included our World Vision Sponsor child, Mater Mothers Hospital and Variety, the children’s charity, Ride to Conquer Cancer, The Leukaemia Foundation's World's Greatest Shave and RSPCA.
We have also responded to ideas from our classes on how to improve our play areas with handball lines being painted in the undercover area, we have funded library equipment including furnishings and games, and purchased art resources for the Drawing Club.