Written by: Mr. Paul Antcliffe – Head of Primary
Leadership is a highly effective way to develop children’s character, values and learning habits. It enables personal growth and builds key learning skills.
Student Leadership @ ISPH
Here at ISPH, we strongly believe in the efficacy of student leadership – it develops the students’ learning habits, their values and their character. We offer over forty leadership positions across the school from Student Council Representatives to PlayLeaders to Wellbeing Ambassadors to Head + Deputy Head Students to House Captains + Vice Captains, and more.
All of these leadership positions contribute significantly to our school community, making ISPH a better environment for everyone. In particular, the work of the Student Ambassadors has been especially impressive and impactful. The role of Student Ambassadors is new for the 2023/24 academic year and has proved to be a popular new position of responsibility.
The role of Student Ambassadors
Student Ambassadors represent the school during Experience Days for prospective students and their families. The children volunteer to spend their Saturday mornings showcasing our school by leading games and activities, hosting tours of the school site and engaging + interacting with the prospective students as they participate in taster lessons led by our teachers.
We even have students from Nursery volunteering to act as Student Ambassadors which is wonderful – you are never too young to start developing leadership skills! As a thank you to the students, we present them with a special gift from the school and celebrate their additional contributions.
Mr Paul remarked after a recent Experience Day, ‘The Student Ambassadors made the experience much more enjoyable and memorable for our visitors. They really embodied what it means to be an ISPH student and were inspirational role models.’
Leaders are role models
One of the essential facets of leadership is to act as a role model to others and to represent oneself in the best possible way at all times. Our Student Ambassadors implicitly understand this and take their responsibilities as role models and advocates for ISPH seriously. This mindset will serve the children well as they grow older and undertake further positions of responsibility in the future.
Leaders give service
Another essential component of leadership is to serve the community that you lead. Again, the Student Ambassadors are excellent examples of this. Our children have a wide range of options for how to spend their time during the weekend but many choose to repeatedly volunteer to spend their Saturdays showcasing ISPH to others – it is a very impressive commitment and shows service learning in action.
Volunteering to become a Student Ambassador
Any student can become a Student Ambassador with parental permission. So if you are a current, or prospective, ISPH student or parent who is interested in volunteering then please contact your child’s teacher to register for interest – you too could be developing your leadership skills whilst representing the school.
