Senior pupils are headteacher for day
THE new head boy and girl at a Macclesfield school were thrown in at the deep end - when they got to play headteachers for the day.
As part of their introduction to the roles, Anna Kingsley and Jack Meeks took on the ultimate responsibility at Beech Hall School, in Tytherington.
The 15 year olds began their day by presiding over a parent breakfast meeting, presenting merit certificates and helping hold an assembly.
They also took part in a meeting to discuss extracurricular activities, brainstormed ideas for charity events, helped devise a personal safety training programme and planned lunch menus.
And if that wasn’t enough the pair had a go at covering playground duty and welcoming parents as they arrived to watch a children’s performance.
The idea was to introduce Anna and Jack to the sort of responsibilities that come with running a school.
Actual headteacher James Allen said: “At Beech Hall we are keen to empower our pupils as much as possible.
“So building confidence and developing key skills for their onwards journey, such as independence and decision making, are all central to our school ethos.
“The initiative built upon this, with both pupils doing admirably well throughout the day.
“As senior head girl and senior head boy, Anna and Jack will get heavily involved in representing their counterparts by sitting alongside the Beech Hall staff to make key decisions.
“These include areas such as our charitable calendar for the academic year and this exercise gave them a valuable insight and confidence for the year ahead.”
Anna said: “It’s been really interesting to get involved in so many important decisions. Not many pupils would get the opportunity to have this experience so we’re both really grateful.
“My favourite part was being able to share my feedback with the headmaster and we even talked about getting another netball coach for the girls’ team.”