Roles and Responsibilities
At Leslie Manser Primary School, we very much take pride in motivating and encouraging our children to show ambition and be aspirational, not just during their time at school but thinking about their wider life experiences to come. This is why we have a Roles and Responsibilities initiative which has inspired many of our children to apply for a role within our school.
The wide ranging roles vary from Litter Pickers to Lunchtime Leaders to Wellbeing Champions plus many others. Children from year groups 1 to 6 are able to apply. Some of the roles are more suitable to our younger children where others, such as Prefects are more focused on our Year 6 children to ready them for life in secondary schools.
The children learn about the roles initially in their classrooms through reading the job adverts with their class teachers. This then allows the children to ask questions and express any interest they have in one, or even a few of the roles.
Once the children have read through the adverts and decided if their skillset meets the criteria for the role, they have to complete an application form. Some children like to complete these entirely independently, giving three reasons as to why they would be good for the job and other children prefer to discuss this at home with parents/carers (who have also seen the adverts) and then write the application form with a bit of help. Our only criterion is that the children write it in their own handwriting, this helps to give the children an exciting purpose for writing.
When all of the application forms are handed in (by the deadlines), the adults who lead the roles will then shortlist and make the tricky decision of who to interview. This process allows our children to learn all of the real life vocabulary around job applications including shortlisting, interviewing and more.
In order to make the roles as realistic as possible, the children are then interviewed on a 1:1 basis by the role leader and notes are made during their three or four question interview. Also similarly to the working world, the children have to wait a couple of days to find out who has been successful. Then, in the Celebration Assembly nearest to the interview, the successful candidates are awarded their very special badges for their role.
Once the roles are given out, there is then the opportunity for our chosen Prefects to try and become one of two Senior Prefects. The candidates who want to stand, will get chance (after writing a short speech), to stand up in assembly and persuade the children and staff to vote for them. In order to teach the children about democracy, we have a voting station at the front of school where everyone casts their vote and the top two Prefects earn a well-deserved promotion.
The staff at Leslie Manser have been amazed at the number of children who want to apply for a role and the projects achieved by children in these positions of responsibility have been phenomenal so far. We would be very excited to welcome your child into our Roles and Responsibilities initiative and our children will very proudly explain why it is very exciting having a job at Leslie Manser. Parents, carers and visitors are always welcome to chat to any of the role leaders or any of our fabulous children wearing a roles badge to find out more!
