Promoting the Student Team Model.

This week, YM schools in the City of Rockingham met for our networking session. Also joining us were Tania (Road Safety & Drug Education Branch) & Kellie (Healthy Communities Officer, City of Mandurah). Community Development Officer, Kieran, updated us on Bike Month activities hosted by the city. Carol-Ann gave us all the news from YM HQ. Then it was over to Warnbro to outline how the student team model at WPS works & why we believe in it so strongly.

Everything starts the year before with the outgoing Team having input into the selection of the incoming Team. At the end of the year, the outgoing Team shares TAGs (Tip, Advice, Good wish) & then both Teams brainstorm aspirations for the new year. In the new year, these aspirations are re-visited & refined, ready to make a start. The Team then writes a short piece about what & how they see the year unfolding, including Team goals & personal goals (in relation to being part of the YM Team.) These are then posted as a story on YM. Below is the final working brainstorming document.

The Team then gets ACTIVE with campaigns, events & fulfilling DoT YM requirements (SOY, EOY HU, writing stories linked to activities) Below, Goals & Events charts as planned by the Team for 2022.

Each member of the Team has an individual folder which they are expected to bring to all YM sessions. This folder contains the Calendar Planner, our own Action Plan for the year & various notes pertaining to planning, events & stories written. We use this folder to keep ourselves in check with what we have planned to do & what we have achieved. The Mentor's folder is very similar to the student's one except I have a term by term (& week by week) outline of where we are going & what we are planning. This helps to keep me in check too! Bett also has a copy of this to keep her up to date. Below, selected pages from both the Mentor's & student's folders.

We are passionate advocates of the Student Team Model & encourage all schools to give it a go. It empowers young people to develop confidence with both their peers & adults in discussion, in putting across different points of view in a respectful manner & generally enhancing leadership skills. It also means that they have ownership of all activities, campaigns & events.