At Surfside Primary School we are committed to providing our students with a learning environment that inspires them to be their best. An important aspect of school life at Surfside is developing student voice and agency, enabling our students to be active contributors in their learning and decision making in our school community. As detailed in the Department of Education ‘Amplify’ document,
“All students are empowered to learn and achieve, experiencing high quality teaching practice and the best conditions for learning which equip them with the knowledge, skills and dispositions for lifelong learning and shaping the world around them.’”Victoria’s vision for learning (Department of Education and Training, 2018)
Student voice is not simply about giving students the opportunity to communicate ideas and opinions; it is about students having the power to influence change. Authentic student voice provides opportunities for students to collaborate and make decisions with adults around what and how they learn and how their learning is assessed. This is known to lead to improved educational outcomes.
Student agency refers to the level of autonomy and power that a student experiences in the learning environment. Student voice and agency are intrinsically linked. Agency gives students the power to direct and take responsibility for their learning, creating independent and self-regulating learners.
To support the ongoing development of Student Voice and Agency at Surfside, we have a student voice team that supports the following:
- Student Voice Team – comprises of representatives from each class and year level to canvas ideas, thoughts and wonderings to support the development of the school. The Student Voice Team meets regularly to organise fundraising events throughout the year that support the local and wider community. The Student Voice Team also plays an important role in decision making processes that impacts all students.
Other student leadership opportunities include class-based roles and responsibilities and the following formal student leadership categories:
- Connections Captains
- House/Sport Captains
- Art Captains
- Kitchen and Garden Captains
- Sustainability Captains