We foster a sense of ownership and responsibility in every child at WR for their learning, attitude and conduct. This is underpinned by our school environment, our school policies and the many additional roles, experiences and opportunities open to children at WR.

At WR our children have the opportunity to take on a number of different roles, with some of those being:

• A Peer Mediator - In the summer of Year 5 our children are given the opportunity to train to become fully certified Peer Mediators. Then in Year 6 they officially take on their role, mediating minor disputes and friendship issues on the playground at break and lunchtime. This allows our Year 6 children the opportunity to gain a valuable life skill, which indirectly affects their own social choices in a positive way, and allows them to become positive role models for the younger children, which in turn has a positive impact on the younger members of our school community.
   
• An Orbit Journalist - Children from across Key Stage 2 have the opportunity to become journalists for our fantastic school magazine, The Orbit. They make a commitment at the start of the year to take on the role for the three terms and, as such, take on journalistic duties including carrying out research, surveys and hosting interviews. They then type their articles and consider layouts for the magazine itself, before it is printed and shared with our whole school community.
   
• A Sports Leader - Those who volunteer to become Sports Leaders are trained by our North Herts School Sports Partnership Lead and then have the opportunity to apply their skills in helping to run sports clubs and school sports events.
   
• A Play Leader - Our Play Leaders are trained by one of our PE Co-ordinators in setting up and operating appropriate small group physical games for our reception children to introduce them to the world of collaborative play. They then apply this on the Reception playground every lunchtime, supporting our youngest members of the school as they learn early social skills.
   
• A School Librarian - This role is a new one that has been created for this academic year to tie in with our new library being created. It is a role for those who prefer a quieter working environment and who enjoy maintaining our books in the library, tidying the different areas of the library to make them as inviting to other children as they can be, and who enjoy setting up displays in our ever-changing seasonal-themed book area.
   
• A Gardener - Our gardeners have already been involved in a key school project this year as they gave up some of their weekend to come in and plant a lot of hedgerow plants to reinstate a lost hedgerow in a key part of the school, which will support the rest of the school community in staying to the path and will also frame an area that is now becoming our new gardening area. The new gardening area is larger than the last, has the capacity to grow each year and is in a central position on the school grounds. This area is currently under development. Our gardening club members also enjoy trips to Oughtonhead gardens and to our local garden centre ahead of new planting for the season. The planting will be even more exciting this year for our gardeners, as the plants will be the first to take root in our new garden area.
   
• Diversity Member - Our Diversity members meet and discuss topical issues that children are coming across at school and actively look for solutions and ways forward. They carry out surveys, host assemblies and create displays to raise awareness in our school community around diversity.
   
• School Councillor - Our School Councillors meet every week to discuss whole school issues and upcoming fundraisers. They take their role as being a voice for the children in their classes seriously, carrying out surveys and asking research-based questions to gain valuable insights which are then discussed at meetings, where next steps are identified. They actively organise fundraising activities for Comic Relief, Children in Need and other charities.
   
• House Captains - House Captains carry out their roles at different points in the school year, with two main highlights that the school community look forward to. The first being the House Pancake Race in February, which sees the whole school community coming together to support this much looked forward to and thoroughly enjoyed whole school event.  The second event is Sports Day and that takes place in May and features a mixture of competitive sprints and House races, as well as a series of athletics stations for all children to take part in, with the day finishing with a real test of endurance in the long-distance run and finally sees the winning House Captains lifting the House cup aloft!

New for this year, every one of our children has been invited to take part in the Let Grow Project, which we are promoting as a school, to help every one of our children develop independent skills outside of school to support the development of their self-confidence and self-belief. The reasons for this are detailed below...

“Children who have more opportunities than others for independent activities are not only happier in the short run, because the activities engender happiness and a sense of trustworthiness and competence, but also happier in the long run, because independent activities promote the growth of mental capacities for coping effectively with life’s inevitable stressors.” 
Let Grow Co-founder, Prof. Peter Gray
 

As a values based school, we are passionate about every one of our children being able to not only understand, but demonstrate our values in everyday life. 

We approach all behavioural issues with a restorative approach in mind, we believe in unpicking each incident and not taking incidents at face value as we understand that there can often be more to the story and other factors that need to be considered. When issue are identified, we look at how all parties can move forward, at what next steps are necessary and what strategies we can
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In Year 6, our Buddies take their roles seriously, taking part in projects with ther Reception Buddies, writing postcards and stories to their Buddies, while also taking opportunities to share books with them. In their early weeks at the school, our Year 6 children take their Buddy into the busy lunch hall and stay with them to support and be a friendly face, talking to them, making them laugh and cutting up food.

Our Year 6 children also take on the responsibility of hosting tours for our prospective Reception parents - a job they very much look forward to and thoroughly enjoy! 

Debate assemblies take place most Monday's for KS2, giving every child the opportunity to stand in front of the rest of KS2 and put across their own viewpoint - a great opportunity to develop public speaking skills, to gain in confidence and to develop self-belief in their own opinions as well.