Service in Action
The SSLC is a group of students from Year 5 and Year 6 who have been selected following a rigorous application process including application letters, speeches and interviews. Service and agency are both integral to the work of the Student Service Leadership Council (SSLC) at St Peter’s Woodlands with a strong focus on serving the community.
Service – the action of helping or doing work for someone, one of St Peter’s Woodlands core values.
Agency – the capacity and propensity to take purposeful initiative—the opposite of helplessness. Young people with high levels of agency do not respond passively to their circumstances; they tend to seek meaning and act with purpose to achieve the conditions they desire in their own and others’ lives.
What does the SSLC do?
The role of the SSLC is twofold;
- To engage in service externally to the school community by selecting and fundraising for a local charity
- To provide opportunities for and facilitate student agency in the school community through the running of class meetings
Our chosen charity for 2024
Previously, the SSLC at SPW have supported many local charities including the Hutt St Centre, Backpacks 4 SA Kids, the Mary Potter Foundation, HYPA and scosa. For these charities alone, around $28,000 has been raised which has had a huge impact on people supported by these organisations. With the arrival of COVID, our fundraising efforts had to take a back seat for a while but we are very excited to let everyone know that SSLC fundraising is back!
The HAS Foundation
This year, the SSLC have chosen to support the valuable work of the HAS Foundation. The HAS Foundation helps children who have life limiting illnesses. They provide financial and emotional support to these children and their families and help them create moments of fun and laughter – moments that turn into beautiful lifelong memories that will never fade.
The HAS Foundation is an Adelaide based charity and was set up by Ella and Jarrod Stratton after their own tragic family loss. They named the charity after their son Hunter Alfred Stratton. When Hunter was born, his parents were told that he would likely not live to see his first birthday. The doctors could never clearly diagnose the cause of his illness. He spent the last three years of his life with the Palliative Care team at the Women’s and Children’s Hospital. Hunter’s resilience defied the odds as he lived and loved life until he was nearly 12 years old before his family had to say their sad goodbyes. This was devastating for his parents, but they have chosen to remember Hunter every day by using their experiences to help other families in similar situations live for the moment and love for a lifetime.
Fundraising Events
The SSLC will run three main events this year to raise money for the work of the HAS Foundation. More details will follow but please lock these in your calendars now so you do not miss out.
Pyjama Day – Term 2, Week 7, Wednesday 12 June – students and staff will be asked to bring a going coin in return for wearing their pyjamas to school
Bake Sale – Term 3, Week 8, Monday 9 September – an opportunity for everyone to bake something yummy to bring to school. All sweet treats will be sold at recess.
Colour Run – Term 4, Week 3, Saturday 2 November – an opportunity for the whole family to take part in an exciting colour run whilst raising money for the HAS Foundation.
Our work in class
Student agency refers to learning through activities that are meaningful and relevant to learners, driven by their interests, and often self-initiated with appropriate guidance. To put it simply, student agency gives students a voice. Class meetings are one vehicle in which students at SPW are given a voice and promotes student advocacy.
Class meetings are held in each classroom 2-3 times each term. Meetings are held at the same time on a Friday afternoon and are facilitated by our SSLC team and our Year 6 School and House Captains. In order to feel prepared and confident to run these meetings all leaders attended ‘how to run an effective class meeting’ training. The agendas for the meetings are class specific and are generated from suggestions submitted to an ideas box held in each class. This ensures all students, from some of our youngest children in Reception to our oldest children in Year 6, are given a voice to table issues, questions or ideas. Items discussed can relate to individual classes, year levels or the whole school. As in any effective meeting, minutes are taken and these are shared with the Leadership of the school ensuring what is important to the students is understood and, where necessary, acted upon.
Through their fundraising and class meeting facilitation, the SSLC at SPW plays an important role. If you have any questions of suggestions about their work please contact Kerry Ramsay on [email protected].
Article share by Kerry Ramsay, Head of Primary
Fundraising throughout the years
