Student Leadership at Aorere

Leadership is expressed in a number of ways. Some leaders lead from the front- they are the ones that are publicly acknowledged and are looked to for guidance and instruction. But, importantly, there are leaders who do not seek that public recognition, but prefer to remain in the background where their skills of leadership are essential to the functioning of society or the family or the school. Both of these types of leadership are essential- and the important thing to remember is that the leaders at the front cannot function without the support and skills of others in the background. 

We need to recognise that people who take on public leadership roles are brave; they put themselves out there and in doing so often encounter criticism for their actions. It is important for us all to realise that we cannot function as a family group, as a school, as a society, without leaders. Without leaders, everything would fall apart. Leaders owe us service, honesty, integrity, and care. In return, we owe our leaders respect, support, and admiration for their work. 

As a school, we have made a decision to reconceptualise the nature of student leadership. In a move towards embracing biculturalism and recognizing the importance of Māori as the tangata whenua, we have adopted new names for our student leaders which better reflect the nature of student leadership in our school. Instead of 'prefect' which comes from the Latin and means 'set in authority over', we have the following names, which additionally are gender neutral and therefore more inclusive: