The Student Leadership Program at Montcrest School has largely been geared toward grade 7 and 8 students. Starting my new role as Student Leadership Coordinator, I am interested in expanding the program to the junior grades by thinking about how students can gain a sense of purpose and build their capacity for leadership through co-curricular action in their school community and by thinking about how to integrate student leadership into curriculum. After reviewing my tasks and goals through the Eisenhower matrix, I have identified some urgent, but important tasks as well as some not urgent, but important tasks. The tasks listed in not urgent, but important are where I intend to focus my action plan in my time in Cohort 21. Given that I am slated to be in this role for three years, my action plan may require a longer timeline than this season of Cohort 21.
Of the Season 13 Strands, my intentions for this season seem to resonate best with Pedagogy, Belonging, and Wellbeing (JK-6): “How might we best engage, support, and assess our JK-6 learners?” My action plan also relates to Pedagogy, Belonging, and Wellbeing for middle school. Thinking about student leadership through this lens, I am considering the ways that a sense of purpose and experiential learning positively contribute to wellbeing and belonging in the school community and the wider community, and therefore engagement in their school and neighbourhood.
Student well-being is promoted by taking into consideration their cognitive, social, physical, and emotional development. Belonging is essential to the human experience and is therefore a main tenet in a person’s well-being. All people want to feel that they are part of a community where they are accepted and can thrive. In order to facilitate this experience at school, educators aim to create communities within their classrooms by facilitating opportunities for students to get to know one another, encouraging group work, or highlighting students’ strengths. In addition to belonging within a classroom community, schools should think about belonging within the larger school matrix, forging relationships and opportunities across grades, school positions, and with the broader community. Positive well-being is also established through a sense of purpose because it allows individuals to feel valued within their communities. When we cultivate our students’ strengths and create time to reflect on these and their challenges, they are afforded opportunities to develop their sense of self.
According to the Ministry of Education’s Considerations for Program Planning, experiential learning consists of opportunities for students to see how their in-school learning relates to the larger community or world, empowering students to explore their sense of self. Leadership within their school community allows students to experience challenges, successes, and growth in their cognitive, social, and emotional development. In a leadership capacity, students use their decision-making, planning, relationship-building skills, and their empathy and emotional-regulation within roles that they are passionate about to affect change within their school. While these opportunities are available to students in grade 7 and 8 at Montcrest, I intend to think about how we can build these opportunities into the school life of our younger students.
As the new school year has begun, new roles within the leadership program have been added to address needs within the Montcrest community and some roles have been given expanded age groups to better include grades 4-6 students. Some of these roles are:
- Equity & Inclusion Leaders
- To attend Equity and Inclusion club meetings, lead discussions, plan opportunities, and connect with other leaders to support awareness and action initiatives inside and outside of the school community.
- Recess Program Leaders
- To take inventory, propose new supplies and games, and to support recess equipment signout on the pitch. Meet with the Director of School Life and Wellness throughout the year to give feedback and ideas on recess.
- Primary Recess Support
- To assist primary students with winter clothing items and support their transitions to recess.
- Sustainability Leaders
- To promote sustainability, love of the environment and nature, and to care for the living wall.
- Innovation Captains
- To solve problems that exist in the school community and collaborate with other captains on initiatives related to their roles.
Sources
Edutopia: How to Cultivate a Sense of Belonging at School
Considerations for Program Planning: Student Well-being and Mental Health
@mbarclay
Thank you for sharing your thoughtful and detailed reflections on the future of the Student Leadership Program at Montcrest School. It’s exciting to see how intentional you are about expanding leadership opportunities to younger grades while maintaining a focus on student well-being, belonging, and purpose. Your commitment to aligning this work with experiential learning and the broader school community is inspiring, and it’s clear you’re setting the stage for meaningful and impactful growth.
Reflections on Your Goals:
Expanding Leadership Opportunities:
• Your plan to integrate leadership roles for grades 4–6 is a fantastic step toward fostering a sense of purpose and belonging at an earlier age. By scaffolding leadership opportunities across grades, you are creating a developmental continuum that empowers students to build confidence and skills over time.
Belonging and Well-Being:
• I appreciate how deeply you connect leadership with well-being and belonging. By embedding leadership opportunities into both curriculum and co-curricular activities, you are helping students see themselves as integral members of their community, which is critical to their social-emotional development.
Experiential Learning:
• Your use of experiential learning to connect leadership with real-world applications is powerful. Opportunities like those in your newly defined leadership roles allow students to see how their actions make a tangible impact, fostering both self-awareness and community engagement.
Questions to Push Your Thinking:
1. Leadership Development Across Grades:
• How might you design age-appropriate leadership opportunities that gradually increase in complexity as students progress from grade 4 to grade 8?
• What systems will you put in place to ensure a balance between responsibility and support, especially for younger students stepping into leadership roles for the first time?
2. Curriculum Integration:
• How might you embed leadership development into the curriculum to complement co-curricular opportunities? For example, could you integrate leadership skills into projects in social studies, science, or language arts?
• What frameworks or tools could you use to assess the impact of leadership activities on students’ cognitive, social, and emotional growth?
3. Reflection and Feedback:
• How will you encourage students to reflect on their leadership experiences? Could you incorporate tools like journals, portfolios, or regular check-ins to help them process their growth and set new goals?
• How might student voice shape the future of the program? Could feedback from current leaders guide the evolution of leadership opportunities?
4. Community Connections:
• How can you leverage partnerships with local organizations or experts to enhance the experiential learning component of your leadership program?
• Could students work on leadership projects that directly impact the broader community, such as environmental initiatives or social justice campaigns?
5. Sustainability and Growth:
• With a three-year timeline in your role, how might you ensure that the systems you create are sustainable beyond your tenure?
• How might you train and mentor other educators to support and expand the program, ensuring its long-term success?
Your focus aligns beautifully with the Pedagogy, Belonging, and Wellbeing strands, as you aim to create a culture of student empowerment that connects leadership to social-emotional growth and community engagement. By weaving belonging and purpose into leadership opportunities, you’re also addressing key aspects of student well-being and fostering a school-wide culture of inclusion and collaboration.
Your vision for the Student Leadership Program is both ambitious and thoughtful, and it’s clear that you’re deeply committed to making leadership an integral part of the Montcrest experience for all students. I’m excited to see how this program develops and how the Cohort 21 community can support you in achieving your goals.
Justin
Melody – I’m so happy you decided to embark on a Cohort professional learning this year! I think that designing an action plan around student leadership is a great idea. It’s very common for an action plan to not be wrapped up or finished at the end of this year, so don’t feel like you need to accomplish everything right away. I’m curious how the new leadership roles for junior and primary students are going – are they engaged, are they proposing changes, are they developing and practicing leadership skills through these roles? I’m excited to see how your action plan evolves at the next face to face!