The ‘Buddies’ program: student leadership at St Thomas More School

St Thomas More School is a Catholic school located in Elizabeth Park, in South Australia. We have an enrolment of about 370 students, from reception to year 7. About eight years ago, we decided that our student representative council was not working in the way we intended it to, for a variety of reasons. This being the case, we decided to develop a different process to involve students in decision-making. From this, we have developed our Buddies program.

We had divided our school into four ‘house’ teams, as many schools would have done for many years. From these house teams we have divided the children into vertical groups of eight students, with one student from each year level in each Buddy group. Each group has a year 7 (or year 6 if there are insufficient year 7s) leader.

Our year 7 leaders undergo training at the beginning of the school year to discern what it means to be a leader. This involves a one day or two half-day workshops, involving the teachers, the principal, the deputy principal and the religious education coordinator.

Each fortnight, the Buddies leaders gather their group and move to different parts of the school, where they are supervised by an adult. Each group has a task or an activity to do for about 30 to 45 minutes. The activities take a variety of forms. Sometimes they might involve the children in a physical education activity, such as learning to skip. They might do an art or craft activity, such as making a Mother’s or Father’s Day card. They may spend some time in prayer or reflecting on something that is currently happening in the school. They could spend time discussing a particular issue so that we can gather feedback, much like a regular student representative council might do. There is no limit to what the activity could involve.

Each fortnight, on the alternative week to Buddies, we hold an assembly and all of the children sit in their Buddies groups, rather than with their own class. This has resulted in children being much quieter during assemblies, as we can allocate house points for an incentive.

We have discovered that our Buddies program has been fantastic for developing leadership skills in older children. They learn to take responsibility for their particular children, children they may not have otherwise met personally in the school yard. Our younger children get to know older children and have a Buddy, who looks out for them on a regular basis.

Our year 7 leaders are also involved in a range of other committees to encourage leadership skills. These committees range from an environment committee, to an ICT committee to a liturgy committee, each with varying responsibilities. Children nominate the committee they would like to be a part of.

Crucial to the Buddies program is the role of the coordinator. While we have had a single person responsible, it could be a small committee. The role of the coordinator is to plan the activities, preferably fitting in with current issues or themes from the school community. The coordinator also ensures that each child is placed within a Buddy group, preferably one not containing a sibling or others where there may be conflict. Various people from within the school may feed ideas in to the coordinator. An example will be to survey the children about what they would like to do with regard to recycling. The whole student body, through Buddies, can be involved and provide feedback.

In all, we have found our Buddies program to be extremely successful in developing leadership skills in our senior students, as well as the other benefits that I have mentioned above.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Mr Peter Mercer is Principal of St Thomas More School, in Elizabeth Park, South Australia, Australia.

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