STUDENT LEADERSHIP
Student leadership is an integral part of who we are at Bottisham Village College
We want our students to be leaders who contribute to the successful flourishing of the school community; to support with the governance of the school and to experience challenges outside the classroom setting. By doing so, our students show and develop skills that would otherwise not be apparent to either them or the school.
Our leadership opportunities aim to be inclusive to ensure that all students have the opportunity to lead. All students are encouraged to apply and take up the multiple roles over the course of their duration at Bottisham Village College.
For more information about a specific part of Student Leadership at BVC, please click the options below.
The students appointed to be part of the Student leadership Team are important role models for other students throughout the College. We are very keen to make this role as inclusive as possible and we are able to offer support and mentoring if required. The role is varied and involves developing areas for school development often tailored to the interests and strengths of the students involved.
The team meet regularly with Mrs Rankine and work with other key members of staff, to help organise key events; for example Open Evening and end of term assemblies. These meetings also provide an opportunity for the team to discuss key issues of interest or suggest areas for development in the College.
In order to be successful in these roles, students need to offer:
• A commitment of time and energy
• A mature and responsible attitude
• The ability to work well with staff and peers
• Very good communications skills, including the ability to speak well in public &/a commitment to developing these skills further
We advocate vertical leadership with elected form reps in every form group in years 7,8, 9 given a forum to discuss matters arising within their year groups; these are in the form of half termly meetings usually chaired by AHOLs. Further to these two form reps from each year group are then appointed to the student council; this is made up of all year groups. This group is chaired by CLT staff and meeting minutes are disseminated to the principal, CLT and to the student body via assemblies.
Last year our form reps championed significant changes to our toilet areas, social spaces, rewards system and chose our charity days.
This year the council has met with members of the catering team Innovate to discuss strategies to improve the service in the canteen at break and lunchtimes.
Starting in March 2024, year 8 students are given the opportunity to act as student runners at least once in the year, supporting the day-to-day work of our student reception team.
This means that each student will spend at least one 100 minutes lesson during the year, paired with another member of their form, based at student reception, engaged on a variety of tasks such as delivering important messages and items to lessons. Students will be challenged to be polite, confident, and organised.
Over the course of Year 10 students can apply to undertake the role of faculty leader and or wellbeing mentor.
Students following this pathway are given training to support them with fulfilling these roles. This year students received bespoke mental health training delivered by counsellors from the young people’s counselling service in conjunction with our ongoing partnership with 20twentyproductions.
Our faculty leaders are tasked with supporting different faculties and whole school initiatives and clubs, acting as role models for the student community. We have faculty leaders across a range of faculties supporting the delivery of extended school’s clubs e.g. MFL clubs: Spanish, German, French and Performing arts leaders helping younger peers with choreography and performance in the recent musical production ‘we will rock you’.
Sports leaders support the delivery of extended schools after school clubs and primary school PE festivals and community events calendared throughout the year to promote participation and competition hosted and organised by Bottisham Village College PE faculty, Football foundation, Cambridge Utd FC, Cambridgeshire Cricket association, Forest heath sports partnership. 
Our wellbeing mentors are tasked with supporting the running of games club at lunchtimes. This is a club targeted at students in years 7 and 8 that welcome the opportunity to have a supervised space to go.
We are keen to offer our students formal accreditations to reward them for their leadership commitments and contributions.
Last year as part of our membership to the SSAT students in year 10 acting as faculty leaders and or wellbeing mentors were introduced to an innovative and formal way to champion and celebrate their leadership skills your developed in and out of school. This required students to create a portfolio in which they gathered evidence to showcase their skills.
- Please see below examples of this work from 3 year 11 students: Maggie, Matilda and Emily.
Each year we ask for support from Year 9, 10 and 11 students for one of our busiest evenings on the school calendar, our Open Evening. It is our students who best exemplify and demonstrate what it means to be a member of Bottisham Village College.
Further to this, Year 9 students have the opportunity to showcase their leadership on year 6 transition days. This give our students the chance to support those starting with us in the new accademic year.
Year 7 camp is highlight for our students in year 7; it takes play in July in Activities week. Each year a group of year 11 students play a pivotal role supporting the running of activities and working with their younger peers. Students in year 11 welcome the opportunity to return to camp.
