Student Leadership 2023-2024

As the Head Student Team on the SSLT, our role is to establish a robust connection between students and the teaching staff at CGS, creating an effective communication network. Students with any opinions or questions have the opportunity to reach out to our team. We can then relay these thoughts to a senior member of staff, and work collaboratively to seek improvements. Furthermore, we are enthusiastic about taking the opportunity to organise school and charity events, deliver assemblies, and provide CGS students with exciting possibilities both in and outside the classroom. Our team is deeply passionate about representing our school and takes pride in serving as ambassadors for CGS. We genuinely believe in progress and are dedicated to seeking ideas to improve our school. We are always prepared to listen, support, and act on behalf of the student body. Our goal is to create a school environment that perpetuates the school values of aspiration, kindness and respect.

Amber	Jess	Bruno

"We are both very grateful to have represented the school as part of the head student team over the last academic year, and we have thoroughly enjoyed the experiences that the role has presented. Being part of the head student team has generated a range of opportunities allowing us to help develop different aspects of our school’s environment, through starting initiatives, getting involved with the local community and charities, while also promoting ideas that we feel continue to foster an aspirational and respectful school environment. The head student role has also stimulated our personal development, helping to improve a wide range of skills, including public speaking, which comes from delivering assemblies and producing speeches for Open Evenings and other school events. Our teamwork and collaborative skills have improved through working with other members of the SSLT to start new initiatives that develop our school environment. We have also found that over the last 12 months, as we have been involved with more events, we have grown in confidence when it comes to engaging with new people and speaking in front of large audiences." Bruno and Jess - Head Students 2023-2024

As House Captains, our role is to promote and organise the House System and the events which contribute to the House Cup. Over the course of the academic year, we give assemblies, organise inter-house competitions, quizzes, and other activities. We work closely in a team of eight with members of the senior leadership team to keep students informed of any relevant information, including news of our respective charities, for whom we are ambassadors.

One of the most important parts of our roles are our charities. Chosen by the House Captains, these charities often support causes that are important to staff and students at CGS. The responsibility of the House Captain is to deliver information on the importance and purpose of each charity, and to create and manage engaging fundraising events.

We strive to encourage participation of all the students, incentivising them to develop their character by discovering new hobbies and participating in the various competitions on offer.

We encourage all students to develop their character by participating in the wide range of competitions on offer!

Callum	Ernie	Rohan	Iona	Grace	Jamie	Louis-Ray
Scarlett

Our role in the SSLT is to ensure the school community is a safe place for everyone. We advocate for a nurturing culture where every member of our school feels heard, valued and safe. We work closely with teachers to help organise programs such as the Peer Educator Project and Sixth-Form student ambassadors, in which older students receive training to teach younger students about their own health and emotional mental wellbeing. We also organise assemblies to highlight important messages to students throughout the year, making sure all students are aware of ways to tackle issues and can access the supportive network around them. We aim to make our school space safe and inclusive for all.

Billy	Evelyn

My time as SSLT for Safe Space has been greatly rewarding, with the experience as a whole having really helped to improve my leadership and communication skills. Throughout my time in the role, I’ve worked closely with teachers to help organise programmes that make a genuine positive impact on students in all years. Leading the Peer Educators Project taught me much about the importance of collaboration and time management when preparing lessons, as well as developing my confidence while teaching younger year groups about their mental health and wellbeing.

As a team, we have developed different ways to ensure that all students continue to feel safe within school and know how to access the supportive community around them for help with any issues they may face. One of these ways is the opportunity to deliver assemblies that highlight important messages to students throughout the year. These assemblies gave me an invaluable chance to develop my skills in both speech-writing and communication.

Overall, my time in the role has not only equipped me with key skills, such as teamwork and leadership, but has also granted me the unique opportunity to help create a safer and more inclusive environment within the school community.

Evelyn Year 13 2023-2024

Our role on the SSLT is to promote and celebrate equality, diversity and inclusion at Chesham Grammar School. Over the course of the academic year, we highlight a plethora of religious and cultural festivals through assemblies, quizzes and activities, honouring the traditions of those who celebrate. We have worked closely with CGS Pride Club to give voice to the LGBTQ+ community at CGS, creating a colourful Pride notice board and taking input for Pride Month celebrations. We are also responsible for bringing significant national events like Black History Month to CGS, for which we delivered assemblies to the student body and worked with the school library to promote diverse displays and resources. We strive to make CGS a safe and inclusive place for everybody by communicating, educating, and celebrating our differences. 

Mia	Nuha	Jeff

'My role on the SSLT Diversity and Communications Team has given me the opportunity to learn about diversity and cultures, as well as work professionally and collaboratively with staff and students. I have gained so much confidence in public speaking through delivering assemblies about important cultural events.' 

Mia

Our role on the SSLT is to develop a strategy and vision for CGS to become more environmentally responsible. Over the course of the academic year, we aim to reduce the school’s reliability on single use plastic and work closely with gardening club to improve areas of biodiversity around the school grounds. Moreover, we are responsible for running eco club, allowing all year groups to collaborate and voice their ideas on creating a positive environmental impact. 

We endeavour to work with all years to make Chesham Grammar a clean and biodiverse environment. 

Lily	Oscar

Our role on The CGS SSLT is to serve as student representatives for the CGS Careers Department. We collaborate closely with this department to enhance students’ awareness of different career paths, whatever their individual interests may be. Through our efforts in promoting initiatives such as the National Careers Challenge (for Year 7 and 10), Work Shadowing (Year 8), Work Experience week (Year 12), all pupils are exposed to all the different opportunities associated with Careers at CGS. We hope to make a significant impact in this role, helping students feel more confident about their futures!

Will	Olly

During my time on the SSLT as a careers leader, I have gained many valuable skills, as well as being provided with the opportunity to enhance existing skills. Firstly, through the opportunity to attend inter-school careers conferences, as well as delivering assemblies, I have been able to significantly develop my public speaking skills as well as my confidence when speaking to a larger crowd. Furthermore, the helping out during open evenings and other school events has given me the opportunity to give advice to younger students, which I have really enjoyed. On top of this, the role also comes with a certain responsibility, and I found that this enabled me to bolster my organisational and time management skills when meeting deadlines for certain tasks assigned to us by Mrs Lovelace. As a whole, being on the SSLT has been extremely enjoyable, and has provided me with responsibilities that I feel will be good preparation for the working world, as many skills I have been allowed to explore are mostly transferable to the wider world, and hence will be useful for me when I am older. Working with Mrs Lovelace and the careers team has provided me with the chance to voice my own ideas, and has strengthened my collaborative skills.  

Will Year 13

As senior prefects, we come together as a team to support all students in younger years. We have two prefects assigned to each year group from Year 7 to Year 11, which helps us provide the extra support from the perspective of students who have experienced the challenges each year poses. At each age, there are different sets of worries, questions and responsibilities, which we help navigate them through. Having the student experience of moving through the years at Chesham Grammar has given us a helpful insight into what student life is like at each age. Therefore, we have an awareness of what the students in a particular year would be experiencing. Furthermore, we’re able to deliver specific messages to the year groups during their respective assemblies. We aim to create an environment where the younger years feel they belong and their needs are being met.

Ben	Pramiti	Tobin
Elly	Hazel	Mouthika
Senura	Nayana	Bethan	Joe

The purpose of this role is to promote the library and to lead the wide range of literary initiatives that the library promotes throughout the academic year, including World Book Day. Furthermore, the SSLT Library manages the KS3 library leaders and runs the recruitment process for the library leaders. This team is also working closely with the SLT to develop how we celebrate success as a school.

This role helps to act as an interface between CGS and the many external people and organisations who interact with us to enrich and support CGS. Student Senior Leaders play an important role in representing CGS at events, in communicating our vision and values, and in offering a student viewpoint to achieve our mutual goals. Student senior leaders are involved in a wide range of projects, including the 'Pitch to Play On' fundraising campaign.

The SSLT team are supported by a large team of over 100 prefects who act as ambassadors for CGS.  The prefect team undertake a weekly supervision duty across the school and they are expected to volunteer in wider school life by supporting extra-curricular or academic clubs.  The prefect team are appointed in Year 12 and can apply for positions on the SSLT during the Spring Term. The selection process for the Prefect Team asks students to demonstrate the positive character traits that they can bring to the role and how they embody the core values of kindness, aspiration and respect.

The Safe Space Student Leaders help lead a team of student educators and student ambassadors. They receive training with the Peer Educator Project and Buckinghamshire Mind. They deliver lessons about mental health and well-being, while also supervise a daily lunchtime space for all students to use. The Safe Space Student Leaders also work closely with the DSL in student voice activities, assemblies and other opportunities and initiatives to raise student awareness of key safeguarding themes, such as Anti-Bullying Week, Safer Internet Day and Time to Talk Day. 

Sports leaders play a crucial role within the school, fostering a positive sports culture and encouraging student participation in physical activity. They are responsible for organising and leading sports activities, including training sessions, inter-school competitions and inter-house competitions. They assist in coaching and mentoring younger students, managing equipment, and ensuring the safety of participants. The sports leaders also promote teamwork, fair play, and sportsmanship among their peers, setting a positive example for others. 

Students who enrol on the Gold Duke of Edinburgh Award are given the opportunity to apply to become a Young Duke of Edinburgh Leader. Young Duke of Edinburgh Leaders take on additional responsibility to support the delivery of the Duke of Edinburgh Bronze Award at CGS. They provide peer to peer support and help other young people to access and achieve their Bronze Award by working with small groups of students and by delivering assemblies to larger cohorts of pupils. The Young D of E leaders are also given administrative responsibilities, this involves contributing to approving and assessing the Bronze Award. This is an asset to their CV and counts towards the volunteering section of the Gold Award.

Student Testimony

'The DofE Young Leader programme helped to improve my confidence as I gained public speaking experience. This made it easier to deliver assemblies when I took on the  role of House Captain. In addition, working in a pair with another Young Leader enabled us to both efficiently divide up tasks and collaborate which was useful when leading the Year 10's participating in the Bronze DofE award. Furthermore, helping Year 10s with their DofE was an enriching opportunity. A large proportion of our work took place online with eDofE, the online system for DofE which meant we had to be organised when keeping track of approving the activities of different participants. We regularly communicated with the school' DofE coordinator to discuss the progress of the students on EDofE. Our training took place online with an introductory Zoom session, and we studied  two online modules, for example, I undertook modules on 'Supporting the Expedition' and ‘Supporting Participants with eDofE'. The training was interactive and we were able to contribute ideas. I would recommend this opportunity as putting yourself out of your comfort zone can, and will, help you in  the future. The programme improves your confidence in unfamiliar situations. It was also a fun experience that allowed me to strengthen other skills such as communication and organisation and leadership. Finally, this role can be used as part of the volunteering section for DofE Gold.'

Ernie, Year 13

Each year two students from Year 13 are enrolled on the Lessons from Auschwitz Project. This four-part course explores the universal lessons of the Holocaust and its relevance today. The first part of the course is an opportunity to learn about pre-war Jewish life and listen to a Holocaust survivor speak. This is followed by a one day visit to Auschwitz and a follow up session where the participants can reflect on the lessons of the Holocaust. The two students involved finish their course by leading a project to spread the lessons they have learned throughout their experience to the whole school community. 

All students in Year 7 and Year 10 take part in the National Careers Challenge. The National Careers Challenge is a careers and enterprise competition, providing students in Years 7 and 10 with real-life business challenges set by leading employers such as Air Products, AtkinsRéalis and Natwest. The students work together in teams to develop a project in response to a live business brief. Every person in the team is given a responsibility for leading a specific aspect of the project and one student per group takes on the role of the Managing Director. The students develop important skills throughout the day including communication, creativity and leadership skills. The winning teams from each year group represent CGS at the national finals. We have a very strong track record of success in the competition and three of our teams have gone on to win the national final in the last few years!

The Junior Prefect team at CGS demonstrate the core values of aspiration, kindness and respect, and model positive character traits to the whole school community. The Junior Prefect team are assigned a duty each week which they complete with a partner, and they contribute to the student voice forum at CGS on a rotational basis. They also act as an ambassador for the school at events across the academic year. 

At CGS, each tutor group has an elected representative who is responsible for collecting student voice from their form once a half term. Once the form representatives have collected the feedback, they meet formally once every half term in the hall for the Student Voice Forum which is led by the House Captains and the Head Student Team. The feedback is passed on to the Senior Leadership Team, who respond to the key issues raised by the students at the Student Voice Forum. 

This is a Student led initiative called ‘Agents for Change’ trained through EqualiTeach. Representing Years 7 to 11, they decide and action a funded initiative for the academic year aimed at addressing identity-based bullying. Their vision entails crafting a comprehensive lesson plan tailored for Year 7 students, with delivery from the Year 13 peer educators during the upcoming Autumn term. Additionally, they have launched the 'Show Racism the Red Card' national schools competition, demonstrating their commitment to fostering inclusive environments and combating discrimination at both local and national levels.

'The KS3 Pupil Librarians play an essential role in the running and administration of the library. They assist during lunchtimes, working with the library team to organise its resources, issue and return books, decorate display boards, and make recommendations. They also contribute significantly to organising library events and competitions such as World Book Day, the Scholastic Book Fair, and National Poetry Day throughout the year. Additionally, the group provides feedback on how the library should be managed to ensure it meets the needs of the wider student body. Overall, the pupil librarians help promote a culture of reading and encourage literacy throughout the school.'

Young people work in teams to set up and run their own Young Enterprise student company under the guidance of a volunteer. With access to extensive resources, videos and step-by-step guidance, teams make all the decisions about their business, from deciding on the company name, managing company finances as well as selling to the public through pop up shops and our unique e-commerce platform Trading Station. Young people gain the practical business experience, enterprising mindset and employability skills needed to help them build successful futures. By completing an online self-assessment, young people can receive a personalised certificate to evidence the skills they have developed from taking part in Company Programme.

Student Testimony

Young Enterprise really stood out to me as an opportunity as it differed from the other enrichment opportunities on offer. We commenced this process by selecting various roles for each member of our team and establishing not only a business idea but also making it come to life, which was much more of a challenge than expected, but provided the most invaluable skills. Attending various fairs and markets was a moment of personal growth for our whole team where we learnt to sell to and trade in a market.

As nine students, we wanted to take initiative, to create something, to make something personal. To decide on what this could be, we evaluated our different skill sets and concluded that one of our team members has a lot of artistic ability. Consequently, we decided that creating prints would be a versatile idea, as we could design different prints for several demographics. We identified some clear gaps in the market for tote bags. The first being size - as the average tote bag is only the size of an A4, compared to ours measuring at 52cm by 40cm. The second being quality of materials. Therefore, we ensured heavier cotton was used for a bag as well as it being 100% sustainable. Our artist drew the designs, then we created the physical template for it and used a screen printing method to transfer it to our textile. This way we established wearable art which we believe encompassed our ideals of producing something distinctive and something which we had control over throughout its invention, its production, and still leaving part of our characteristic designs with people once they had bought our products and used them on a daily basis.

At the end of our journey, we attended the Regional Young Enterprise competition where we took part in a 10-minute interview to a panel of judges and a presentation to the judges and all the other teams. We were grateful to win 2nd place in the logo competition, as well as best report. Throughout this process, we learnt to elaborate and present through pitching. Another major skill we’ve developed is the ability to work with other people and that of running a company. I’m glad to have taken part in such an enriching experience.

Anna, Year 12