Our School Captains
School Captains and Prefects are often the most visible students at a school, not only because they are frequently tasked with public speaking, but also because if they are anything like our 2021 School Captains they are heavily involved in everything a school like Wesley College has to offer.
Whether on the hockey field, fundraising for charity at a lunchtime event or centre stage at the production, these students are part of the many different smaller communities within Wesley College. These students set a fine example for other students of authentic and open leadership, having already started to make a wonderful difference to our great school.
Earlier this year, our Glen Waverley School Captains, Ben Meachem and Paige Heavyside, and St Kilda Road School Captains, Leyla Kenneally and Ollie Pateras, shared their vision for the year ahead with the Herald Sun.
Ben and Paige:
For us, the vision is to establish and rekindle what was lost last year both for students, teachers and families.
As leaders of the school it is our duty to be able to create a safe community for everyone and we are doing all we can to achieve this. Through social Justice a safe environment can be fostered. Furthermore, we will be constantly addressing this within the Wesley community which involves encouraging students to take action with compassion and pride. We are looking at establishing numerous programs such as mental health days, social justice programmes and fundraising events and we’re promoting aspects of the community everyone can feel passionate towards, whether that’s sport, music, drama or more.
Mental health is a highly prevalent issue in society and therefore we are aiming to promote positive mental wellbeing. Some aspects that are being implemented are mental health days - where the student body are educated on useful ways to help maintain a balanced and positive mental state. External speakers will be utilised along with other resources that will be available to help students in need.
Another vision we have is for a more sustainable school environment. The community at Wesley are consciously making efforts towards having a positive environmental impact. This year an environmental focus is recycling and improving our bin systems.
Overall, 2021 is going to be exciting and rewarding for us as leaders and the Wesley College community and we are looking forward for what the year holds.
Leyla and Ollie:
As prefects our primary role is to create a community at school where students feel accepted and individual growth and discovery is encouraged.
Our vision is to ensure all students feel empowered to make decisions affecting life at school. We believe everyone at Wesley has the right to shape how our community operates, while working towards achieving their personal and academic goals.
With 2020 disconnecting us from normal school life, the challenge we put forth to our peers was to try something completely new this year. This may be auditioning for the musical, trying a new sport or even writing a letter for the student newspaper.
We hope this not only provides a new experience for students, but also challenges them, fosters new friendships, and most importantly strengthens our school community. As leaders, we also want to develop the role our school plays in the wider community. While students are excellent at raising money through bake sales and casual cloths days, we want to strengthen our sense of connection to the cause.
This inspired us to plan opportunities for student involvement in our local community, for example our Charities Prefect is planning a building day to support communities affected by last year’s fires. As young people we have a major role to play in advocating for change.
Therefore, our most important focus as prefects is to give our peers the opportunity to voice their opinions as our individual ideas will never match what an entire cohort of students could create together.
As said by John Wesley, “Do all the good you can”, and this is exactly what we hope to lead in the Wesley Community this year.
