EF Academy Torbay Student Leadership 2017-18

In the grand scheme of things perhaps student leadership isn’t going to change the world. But maybe it will be the making of our young leaders and who knows where it could lead them.

These positions are not simply a vanity project or a way of the school saying it’s something we do. Last year’s student council made a real difference to the lives of both students and staff in the school because they made themselves heard with eloquence and confidence.

One example of the power that these student had was when they managed to change the entire school timetable because it was widely felt that lunchtime was not long enough and students struggled to get their lunch and have enough down time. The student council listened and made their case.

This example shows how seriously we take our young leaders and how important their work can be. This is not to make it sound easy. Balancing the wishes of all the students within the realities of the school is not easy but what’s important is that students feel they are listened to and that they have the chance to express themselves.

We have a greatly expanded student leadership team this year because we have leadership positions for our houses and these guys will be particularly busy organizing house events and helping their Heads of Houses.

As well as House leadership roles we have also created a great student council who’s role it is to act as a bridge between the staff, school and the students on matters ranging from academics to activities and they will keep us on our toes. We also have a Boarding committee who will work with Kelly our Head of Boarding and activities and finance committee who will help Chris Nicholls the Enrichment Coordinator to plan finances for events and to organize key events like the graduation and prom.

Of course the key positions in the school are the Head Boy and Head Girl who have a central role to play in the school. This year’s Head boy and Girl are Moritz Brinker’s and Matilde Bianchi two fantastic students who will undoubtedly work hard to do all they can to improve our school. We will hear more from these students soon because they will be interviewed for this blog but the entire school was delighted by their appointments.

The other thing that is important is that we allow our students the chance to gain this valuable experience and to test out their ambitions in the microcosm of the school learning valuable skills like negotiation, compromise, team work and determination. They are the ones to watch.

More to come from our student leaders. Stay tuned!!!