Many of our pupils have roles and responsibilities across the academy. They make a highly positive contribution to the life of the school and actively support the wellbeing of other pupils and members of our local community.
Continue reading to meet our teams:
School Parliament
Student’s opinions are very important and should play a key role in shaping the Academy. In order to achieve this, we have formed the School Parliament; key roles and groups within the Academy which allow pupils to have their say and to voice their opinions as well as supporting other students. All students involved in student voice have the opportunity to develop key skills of leadership, responsibility, team work, organisation, the opportunity to raise self-esteem and build self-confidence.
Each class are represented on the School Parliament by two children and the children represent different departments within the parliament depending upon their interests.
We have departments for:
- Equality and Inclusion
- Education
- Energy
- Enterprise
- Health
- Sport
See below for a round up of some of the key events our School Parliament have undertaken so far this year:
South Kirkby Recycling Centre Visit
At South Kirkby Recycling Centre, two members of school parliament, learnt all about waste management and what we can do as an academy to support this.
Sustainability and the Environment
Our deputy prime minister, represented OPA Bell Lane at a meeting chaired by Lily from OPA Littleworth Grange with our CEO, Martyn Oliver. It was a fantastic opportunity to discuss sustainability across both our primary and secondary academies
Local school committee meetings
Members of school parliament attend local schools committee meetings where they jointly plan a variety of events aimed at improving the environment.
One of the events they organised was a visit from our local PSCO who delivered an assembly about road safety and worked with classes to monitor the speed of traffic outside of the academy.
Sport Summit
Our two members from the Department of Sport were set two challenges by Mr Wilson, who is our Chief Executive Principal (Primary), they had to design two stations for a playground sports circuit and contribute to a Trust book of favourite playground games. They presented their information via an OGAT Primary Google Meet.
Education Summit
Our two members from the Department of Education were set two challenges by Mr Wilson, who is our Chief Executive Principal, to gain feedback from across the academy on our ‘Time to…’ sessions.
Anti–bullying
School parliament helped to prepare and deliver an assembly during anti bullying week.
Remembrance Day
Members of school parliament visited Ackworth war memorial to pay their respects on Remembrance Day. They took with them wooden poppies which they had decorated.
Pumpkin Competition
School parliament had the tricky job of helping the adults judge the pumpkin competition.
Harvest Festival – Food Bank Donation
Our School Parliament members helped to organise all our donations for Westfield centre food bank to take away and be shared with our local community.
School Parliament Election Day
In September, Election Day was a great success with all the children voting democratically for who they wanted to represent our academy. Representatives for the six departments have been chosen along with our Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister.
Mental Health and Wellbeing Champions
Who we are
Our Mental Health and Wellbeing Champions are kind, helpful and supportive members from Year 3-6. They support children during social times and run lunch clubs for some of our younger children.
What we do
Our MHWB Champions regularly share books in assemblies to promote positive mental health.
They launched children’s mental health week by sharing a story about bravery.
They recognise acts of kindness by rewarding them with bucket filler tokens and weekly kindness awards and continuously help to spread the happiness across the academy.
One of our wellbeing champion’s roles is to spread happiness on the playground. So that they could do this effectively they completed a positive playground survey to find out what makes us happy in the playground and what we could do to make them even better.
Reading Ambassadors
Our reading ambassadors work enthusiastically with Mrs Webb to help promote a love for reading across our academy, including sharing book recommendations, reading to different classes, keeping our library tidy and organised and running the book donation point for all year groups.