By Josh Squire
KINDNESS and compassion sit at the top of the school captains’ goals for the rest of the school year at Romsey Primary School (RPS).
The newly elected captains are part of a big leadership group alongside many of their fellow Year Six classmates and are enjoying their new job as senior figures at the school.
“When I got the role of school captain, I was really proud of myself and I was really grateful to be given the opportunity,” Millie Hulett said.
Honey DiPietro said: “I want to be a leader who is kind and that is open to everyone’s ideas and supports them.”
Chase Rowstron said: “I’d like to be a positive role model that the kids would look up to.”
The captains will attend community events such as Anzac Day on behalf of the school and serve community lunches at the Romsey Neighbourhood House later in the year.
They will also get a chance to work on their public speaking during school assemblies alongside the STEAM, art and sport captains.
“I feel like doing the assemblies each week will help my confidence a lot,” Casey Kuhl said.
Pride spread across school principal Melanie Stewart’s face as the students spoke about their goals for the upcoming year, which focused mostly on what they could do for the younger students.
“I really like the kids to be happy and supportive of each other,” Mrs Stewart said.
“Whether they’re leaders or not, we say to all of the kids ‘you’re all leaders, you’re all role models’.”
The new leaders at Romsey Primary School are taking on their roles with a bit of help from the school’s support dog Ollie.
The black labrador belongs to Mrs Melanie Stewart and has been with her throughout her tenure as principal of RPS after a medical condition prevented him from becoming a guide dog.
Mrs Stewart said he now provides great support for kids who just need a little bit of time to reset during the day.
“He’s very in tune with the kids and he helps them regulate (their emotions),” Mrs Stewart said.
“He just tends to know who needs him and when.”
Gaining plenty of experience, the students agreed that the captaincy would be beneficial when they head off to high school. But Casey already has eyes even further into the future.
“I feel like the public speaking will help with a lot of jobs,” he said.
“But I’m still kind of juggling between them, trying to choose something that’d be fun for a long time.”
