At St Clair Public School, on Darug land, students in orange vests are found in the playground each recess and lunch, on the job and ready for their roles as Playground Leaders.

In the school’s bid to enhance its recess and lunch-time environment, a group of passionate Year 5 and 6 students take to the playground each and every day to run structured activities for younger students. Students wait with bated breath for the morning announcements to find out what is scheduled for the day.

The initiative has a stepped, hierarchical structure with Year 6 students responsible for rostering the Playground Leaders as well as scheduling the sports and games. Year 5 students carry out the activities and ensure that the right equipment is out in the playground during their break times.

St Clair Public School relieving principal, Elizabeth Goodwin, shared how the initiative is part of the students’ leadership pathway to give all students an opportunity to lead and take on a level of responsibility.

“We saw that a lot of our students were really looking forward to an opportunity to lead and build on their leadership capacity,” she said.

“It’s a great way to inspire younger students to become leaders themselves and gives our Year 5s something to look forward to next year.”

The program started last year, and the school has already noticed a reduction in playground incidents. Students seem to have a newfound purpose, and younger students gravitate towards the older leaders as role models and new friends.

The range of activities is varied, with students even taking up watercolour painting in the playground, a creative activity that drew in students from all year groups. The school hopes to continue to expand the program with more exciting activities planned, including a bean bag toss.

“This program has really seen an improvement in our students’ overall sense of belonging and community,” Ms Goodwin said.

“A lot of these buddy systems and new friendships happen organically which is really great to see.”

St Clair Public School teacher Taryn Pears started the program when she noticed that some of her students wanted to have a sense of responsibility. The students also showed a keen interest in having different sports and games to look forward to each day at school.

“It’s an opportunity for students to build leadership skills and has helped with behaviour in our school playground,” Ms Pears said.

The school and students have organised fundraising through a bottle recycling program to buy new sports and games equipment, and fluoro vests to help the younger students find their leaders in the playground.