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At St Andrew’s and St Mark’s (SASM), our vision of providing "life in all its fullness" (John 10:10) extends belonging in the classroom to how our pupils influence and lead their community. We believe that providing meaningful opportunities for leadership helps our children become confident, resilient, and independent citizens who act with integrity and thrive.
At St Andrew’s and St Mark’s (SASM), our vision of providing "life in all its fullness" (John 10:10) extends belonging in the classroom to how our pupils influence and lead their community. We believe that providing meaningful opportunities for leadership helps our children become confident, resilient, and independent citizens who act with integrity and thrive.
Our School Parliament
Our School Parliament is the heartbeat of pupil voice at SASM, with 60 pupils actively involved in shaping school life. All pupils begin the school year by choosing a committee they would like to be a part of, preparing and delivering a speech and voting for a class representative.
Our parliamentarians are divided into specialised committees to ensure a wide impact:
Advocacy MPs: Lead campaigns on local and global issues, acting as "agents for change" within and beyond our school gates.
Learning MPs: Work alongside staff to influence the curriculum and provide feedback on how we assess and learn. They have a vital role in recruitment of new staff, completing site tours and giving feedback to the interview panel.
Faith MPs: Help deliver collective worship and ensure our diverse community's religions and cultures are explored and respected.
Environment MPs: Are advocates for the school environment and beyond. Responsibilities include running the school Eco-Refill Shop and actioning the school's Climate Action Plan. They also consider safety on the school site.
Wellbeing MPs: represent the school at events, such as WellFest, and work with the school to help pupils feel safe.
To deepen their understanding of democracy, our MPs visit the Houses of Parliament and take an active role in school governance, including conducting learning walks and interviewing new members of staff
January.mp4Year 6 Peer Mentors
Y6 pupils apply to undertake the role of Peer Mentors. They receive bespoke training from Miss Woodward, based on the UN model of conflict resolution.
Our mentors have two roles:
Peer mentoring – they will be available every day to talk to anyone who is feeling worried or if they need help finding a game to play or having a game explained to them
Peer mediation – mentors can also lead peer mediation sessions. These are designed to help children solve small disputes e.g. arguments about a game.
Our mentors also share tips in our newsletter and meet with families to share their work.
Sports Leaders
Training for sports leadership begins with Year 6 pupils steeping into the role of Sports Leaders by taking part in a special Inspiration Day, designed to prepare them for leading younger pupils in sporting activities. The day is led by coaches from the Merton Sports Leaders programme.
Throughout the day, Year 6:
· Learnthe six key principles of sports leadership: Safety, Organisation, Communication, Co-operation, Enjoyment and Responsibility.
· Reflect on their own leadership skills by writing an application letter explaining why they would make a great Sports Leader.
· Work in groups to plan and deliver PE games, thinking carefully about how to keep them safe, fun, and fair for all.
In the afternoon, our new Sports Leaders put their skills into practice by teaching exciting games to the Year 3 and Year 4 children. Sports Leaders then run activities for all pupils at lunchtimes for the remainder of the year.
Junior Librarians
These leaders manage our library resources and make key decisions that influence our reading curriculum. After applying the for role, librarians help run the library at lunchtimes, which is open to all pupils as a quiet space to read and reflect. Our librarians also run and judge reading competitions
Buddy System
At St Andrew's and St Mark's, we have a Year 3 and Year 6 buddy system that fosters meaningful relationships and a sense of community across age groups. Each Year 6 pupil is paired with a Year 3 buddy, providing younger students with a supportive mentor as they transition into Key Stage 2. This partnership builds confidence and social skills in Year 3 pupils while giving Year 6 students an opportunity to develop leadership, empathy, and responsibility. Together, these connections contribute to a caring and collaborative school environment where all pupils can thrive.
Eco-Refill
Powered by Pupils Profit and a grant from Kingston Council, SASM has successfully bid to open a new eco-refill shop on-site once a month. On the last Friday of each month, parents, carers and pupils arebe able to bring a bottle and purchase body wash, washing-up liquid and hand soap.
Our Environment MPs produce a business plan and learn how to set up their own business. From creating a business name, identifying and controlling risks to ordering stock, our pupils are completely in charge of the business.
Year 5 Archbishop's Young Leaders' Project
In the Spring term, Year 5 host a series of events on their Archbishop's Young Leader Awards journey. The Archbishops' Young Leaders Award exists to see a generation of young people empowered to transform society. Through work across the half term, pupils have completed lessons designed to develop opportunities for young people to grow in leadership, faith and character. As a result, each class has complete an activity to help others.
Headteacher for a Day
Each Year 6 child can apply for this role, culminating in a school-wide democratic election during our Courageous Advocacy week
By Miss Salma : SASM's Headteacher for the Day 2025
Hello, my name is Salma and I am writing to tell you about how it feels and what you do as a headteacher for a day. As soon as I came to school I walked the daily mile and then I went straight to my office and started to plan a bit more for my collective worship. I then went to the hall and I began my talk about compassion and including the students too by asking them questions. After that I went to the staffroom for the first time!
I then went to each department of the school with Mr Gates and I learnt a bit more about what other members of staff do. I then began to interview some children from across all year groups. Next I went outside for lower school breaktime to watch some of the football matches. We then discovered a fox and her 3 baby cubs living in the playground and they were very cute but we had to discuss how we could keep everyone safe ( including the foxes).
In the afternoon I then went outside to watch some more matches and I also rewarded some CVP's. I then had a little break at lunchtime and then got back to working! I started by going around the upper school and making sure they did their space makers which is something we do after lunchtime to calm down and be ready for the afternoon. Then me and my classmate Anaiyah started to design a feedback student board which you can see on the left and students can write their ideas on how we can change the school ( this was mainly Anaiyah's idea!). I then went around the school observing what each class were doing. And finally I finished writing the rest of my bit in the newsletter which you are reading now. In conclusion, I had a really amazing day and I learnt being a headteacher is tiring and a lot of responsibility but a good experience and very, very fun!
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