Students' voices celebrated

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The whole School community was thrilled when St Michael’s became one of only three finalists in the Victorian Student Representative Council’s (VicSRC) ‘Student Voice School of the Year’ Award. Student voice and agency are important components of both our Teaching, Learning and Caring Framework and our Strategic Direction: Towards 2030. One of our goals is to ‘develop mechanisms for student voice, participatory decision making and feedback on their experience…’ We have made great progress in improving student voice and agency across the School in recent years, especially with the work of our Years 5-12 Student Representative Council informing various Committees. Our Reconciliation Action Plan Committee, the Uniform Committee and Wellbeing Committee are just three of the committees in which our students are active participants. In addition, students have been instrumental in developing the Student Hub, a digital platform run by, and for, students. The Hub features a ‘You can ask that’ segment (based on the ABC Show), a Pride resource centre, a First Nations resource centre and ‘Song of the day’. The Merry Month of May, is another annual student-led activity and students are also responsible for hosting the Astor Assemblies. In 2022 students designed, edited, and curated The Phoenix a student publication full of interviews, music, study tips, art, and literature. In all these endeavours, staff have worked hard to foster an environment where students are genuinely heard and can flourish. Following the advice that we were finalists for the Student Voice School of the Year’ Award, the Student Leaders were invited to produce a video to showcase their work. On Thursday 17 November, a contingent of staff and student leaders represented St Michael’s at the Awards Ceremony. While we did not win, the quality of the submission from our Student Leaders is evidence of their empowerment.