A WELLBEING Week will be the first event to be organised by the new A Team of Head Students at Haslingden High School and Sixth Form.
Ava Baker, 18, along with 17-year-olds Aisha Kirkham and Ari Beck-Jones were appointed Head Students after an interview with the school’s Senior Leadership Team.
They want to improve integration between the school and Sixth Form, so younger students see staying on for A levels an aspirational and attainable goal.
Ava said: “It is part of how we run things at Haslingden. We have three Head Students and there are 11 students in total on the leadership team.”
Each Head Student candidate presented three ideas that they wanted to see happen to the School’s Senior Leadership Team including events, changes and activities.
Now the A-team will be working with other leadership team students to make their ideas a reality.
Plans include: the prom, integrating Year 11s into Sixth Form, Christmas activities and the Wellbeing Week.
Ari explained: “It is good that we are able to represent students and make sure students’ needs are met and that they are being heard. It is important that they see the Sixth Form as not just somewhere they go to learn but their own place.
“It also gives us experience of management.”
Aisha said: “Being a Head Student is about getting everybody’s voice to be heard and ensure we get the most out of the full Sixth Form experience and that it is not just a place of study.”
Headteacher Russell Clarke said: “The Sixth Form is a wonderful and inclusive environment that takes great pride in creating opportunities for our students to develop their leadership skills. Our Sixth Form students have a great deal to offer and we are delighted to hear of their plans for the academic year ahead”.
From November 6 to 10, there will be a Wellbeing Week with different events throughout the week, table tennis at lunch, board games, the art and music link with a nursing home, a yellow day for mental health charity Mind, food and much more.
Ari hopes to study Modern History and Philosophy at St Andrew’s and is interested in a career in the Civil Service or Foreign Office.
Aisha is looking at York or Edgehill for a Creative Writing or Drama degree with ambitions of being an author or drama teacher.
Ava spent her work experience at a Manchester record label and wants to manage musicians, artistes and tours and is looking at a Music Business degree at Leeds or Birmingham Conservatoire.
Aisha added: “We want our message to be heard. It is important that students realise Sixth Form is not like school and that they have more freedom and are treated as an adult.”