Captains of courage

By Justin Robertson
SO far, so good.
That’s the good word from Bunyip Primary School Grade 5-6 teacher, Glenys Howard, on the current mob of school captains.
Bunyip’s captains, Lachie Binstead and Ashlee Smith, along with vice-captains Tahlia Robson and Tom Blakey have just made it through their first term as leaders, and according to Howard, have justified the student population’s vote.
Mrs Howard has been a teacher at Bunyip for eight years now and in between running her classes, she co-ordinates the student elections each year – something she’d done for the past three years.
At the end of last year 60 students voted for their leaders after listening to a series of short speeches and once the peer votes were calculated, a special assembly was called to announce the captains for 2011.
But what makes a good captain? Mrs Howard said it was a range of attributes.
“The captains are usually good at speaking, a good role model to all the students of the school, kind and helpful to kids in the yard, well organised and able to talk to teachers and organise activities for the students,” Mrs Howard said.
“Captains usually stand out in the yard over the years leading up to Grade 6, working in roles of responsibility, so when it’s time for the speeches they are usually able to pick clearly who the best representatives of our school are going to be.”
From Prep to Grade 5 students can gain experience in a leadership role by running various fund-raising events, becoming a sport shed monitor and making general announcements to the whole school.
“This leadership program has really developed over the last few years to allow the children to develop these skills and become leaders and public speakers in so many different ways,” Mrs. Howard said. “I really like that about what happens here at Bunyip.”
So far this term the four captains have worked together as a united front with weekly reports at assembly on Fridays updating the school population on the events of the week – as well as looking ahead, conducting official tours for parents and taking a hands-on approach with the kinder to prep transition program.
“The four of them work together; they’ve been doing a great job this year,” Mrs. Howard said.