Students don't have to be school captains or house captains to be considered leaders. We encourage our students to be leaders in the classroom and playground, through their support for other students, or their involvement in academic, sporting, cultural or community events and projects.
Many different leadership opportunities are available for students at Tower Street PS.
Our Year Six students undertake many responsibilities across the school. Year Six students are instrumental in the daily organisation of the school; their roles include setting up sports equipment in the playground, recycling, operating audio visual equipment and delivering lunch orders to infants classes.
Our weekly assemblies are run by the school captains and prefects, who also represent the school on many public and in-school occasions. The school captains and prefects attend the 'Leaders of Today - and Tomorrow' conference each year. Sport captains assist with weekly sport and lead the whole school at Swimming, Cross Country and Athletics carnivals.
In Weeks 4 and 8 of every term, a parliament is held at Tower Street Public School. In parliament, all of Tower Street Public School's student fundraising and many other activities must be passed in as a bill by the minister of a portfolio, discussed and voted on.
The queen is the principal. She has the final say on all matters relating to the school. The prime minister and governor general are the school captains who report matters of parliament to the queen.
There are also a speaker who is responsible for the smooth running of Parliament, a serjeant-at-arms who escorts the speaker into parliament holding the mace and who maintains order in parliament, and a clerk who records the bills put forward.
The House of Representatives members are all the students from Year 5 and 6. They form committees and ministries from the following categories: Executive, Environmental, Arts, Community, Publicity, Sports, Technology. They raise issues based on their ministries. The Senate are the Student Representative Council (SRC) members voted for by their peers from Years 1 – 4. There are four representatives from each class. These students will represent the views of their classmates and discuss matters of class and school importance. Both the House of Representatives and the Senate must submit their issues as bills and they all vote on the bills after they have been read, discussed and debated upon.
The aim of the Tower Street Public School Parliament is to encourage students to understand how Parliament works and to develop self-confidence through active participation in school decisions. The skills associated with this civic participation enable students to accept and fulfil their social responsibilities by listening to others, participating in activities and discussions and working productively whether individually, with partners or in groups.
Senior students also experience leadership through the Kids Council program. Kids Council is a peer mediation group run by Year 4-6 students and assists students who are experiencing difficulty in the classroom or playground.
Each year one student from Year 6 is chosen to represent our school at a regional level as our 'Ambassador for Public Education'.
Year 5 students are great ambassadors for the school during the six week Kindergarten Orientation sessions. A group of students attend each session and build strong connections with the younger students. They develop communication skills, leadership, empathy and patience and are instrumental in the positive start to school our newest enrolments experience.
Playground Partners has now been running at Tower Street Public School for four years.. Students in Years 4-6 run activities at recess and lunchtime for the younger students. They choose from a wide range of sports and physical activity equipment and organise games. This program has been supported by a grant from the School Sports Foundation.
These are just some of the ways children grow into exceptional people at Tower Street Public School.