Written by Eddie Brown, Primary Deputy Headteacher, Hartland International School, UAE

When I think back to my time in primary school, I remember all the children in our Year 6 class being desperate to become a ‘School Prefect’. The prestige of wearing that badge and the recognition it brought felt significant.  I remember the disappointment from so many individuals when the eight children got chosen.  Looking back, I question what it really meant to be a School Prefect beyond looking good with a pin badge on your tie.  What difference did that individual make and what was the purpose of student leadership in the school? 

Over the past 24 years working in education, I have seen significant change in what student leadership looks like.  The roles have more engaging titles – we have ‘Kindness Ambassadors’, ‘House Captains’, ‘Eco Leaders’ and ‘Playground Peacemakers’ to name a few.  Primary children are highly motivated, articulate, and eager to make a difference. At the same time, schools are operating in increasingly demanding environments, with limited time and far greater expectations than 5, 10, or even 15 years ago.  But how do we ensure that student voice leads to real impact - not just token initiatives?  How are we developing those individuals, so they really do understand what it means to be a leader? Too often, student leadership in primary schools focuses on titles and visibility rather than the deliberate development of leadership skills.

This year in Primary at Hartland, the team reflected on how we approach student leadership.  Over the years, implemented a wide range of student leadership roles.  Our children are incredible, we know how lucky we are and they genuinely want to make a difference.  We’ve asked each other - what are we really doing beyond the norm?  How much of it is child-led and do our children really understand what it means to be a leader?

This prompted us to rethink our approach to student leadership at Hartland.  As adults, we train our leaders so they have the skills needed in the role – why wouldn’t this be the same for our children?  Central to this is wanting our children to really understand what it means to be a leader and the skills required for the role.  In the past, our Class Rep and Student Council have been expected to understand their role and be the voice of their peers without being taught the specific skills and qualities of leadership. 

What We Did

The team wanted to try something different and at the start of this year, we introduced the Future Leader Award for all our Class Reps and Student Councillors.  Any children who wanted one of those roles, also had to commit to an enrichment where they were trained in the core skills of leadership.  This was a 12-week program designed by Matt Weir, combining explicit leadership training with a final project.  All the children who completed the training were recognised in assembly and received a certificate and leadership ‘qualification’.

Each week, children focused on leadership skills in an age-appropriate way.  For example, while Years 2 and 3 explored decision-making, Years 4–6 developed the same skill through more complex contexts and activities.  Children learned about team building, creative thinking, dealing with failure, time management and feedback.  Each week, the new skill was accompanied by a fun task to do at home and bring in the next week.  This enabled the children to consolidate their learning and practice the new skill outside of the classroom.  We are beginning to see greater independence and initiative from our students and they now articulate leadership behaviours more clearly.

What our children, parents and staff said

“As part of the Primary Student Exec, I have gained so much knowledge and experience from meeting with my peers on a regular basis to discuss different qualities of leadership.”

Year 6 Student Leader

 “The Future Leaders Award has been an engaging programme for our students.  We’ve seen our pupils grow in self‑belief and initiative, and it’s been a joy to watch them apply what they’ve learned both inside and outside the classroom.”

Teacher at Hartland

 “She enjoys and benefits a lot from this amazing enrichment, this is absolutely an essential skill in her future.”

Parent of Year 2 Student

The process hasn’t been perfect.  It was difficult to get after school commitment from all the children and as with any enrichment, children missed weeks due to absence.  Our enrichment leaders had to work closely together to ensure that children completed the course and as with ‘homework’ of any sort, outcomes varied.  It was also timed to end at one of the busiest times of the year in the lead up to the winter break.  This meant it was a challenge to make the project meaningful.  Instead, we adapted and empowered the children to train their peers at the start of the Spring term. 

What next…

Initiatives like this take time to embed and as we continue to refine our approach to student leadership in primary at Hartland, our focus remains centred on ensuring every element is purposeful and impactful.  Over the course of the next 12 months, our aim is to further strengthen how our student leadership is structured.  Capacity is so often a limiting factor so student leadership must be integrated across school systems.  One key learning has been this: tried, tested and traditional still works but ensuring that our students have the right skills to lead as individuals means they can take their opportunity and make an important contribution to the school community they are part of.  Check back in next year to find out how things have developed.