New National Student Voice Council for the trust

  19 August, 2019

The trust is celebrating the success of the very first meeting of its new National Student Voice Council.

The Council, which is made up of students from across the national network, will represent and act on behalf of OAT’s thousands of students. The meeting took place in the form of a two-day residential trip to Birmingham and saw the Council come together to bond, collaborate and elect one another into roles for the upcoming year.

Whilst students were nervous when they arrived, all had a shared sense of excitement about working together for the greater good. Firstly, students bonded over some ice-breaking games to get them thinking about how effective teams work. This even included a visit to an Escape room, where the group solved clues together whilst reflecting at every point on what they were learning about both themselves and working in a team.

As the weekend progressed, the work became more serious as pupils focused on the subject of choice for #iwill, a national social action project they will all be involved with. The project embraces the individual ideas of the group, who all demonstrated their determination to be the best they can be, despite any challenges. With this in mind, the Council chose the mission of eradicating stigma from OAT’s schools to drive change and encourage acceptance across the trust.

The Council also took part in a session led by OAT’s National Director of Strategy and Quality Improvement, Amelia Walker, which shaped and influenced thinking across the board, as well as assemblies and ‘workplace chats’ to learn more about careers and development.

After the Council voted on roles of responsibility, Tyler May from Ormiston Rivers Academy in Burnham was elected as Chair, with Alice Willcott from Ormiston Bolingbroke Academy in Runcorn elected as Vice Chair. Each student now has at least one leadership role, and as a Council all will be working to make a difference to OAT’s schools by working across regions and with representatives.

The Council is now preparing for regional meetings in the autumn term and contributing to OAT’s National Conference in November.

Joan Costello, Principal at Ormiston Rivers Academy, who has been leading on the project, said:

“The National Student Voice Council are a wonderful group of young people and it is an absolute privilege to witness them working so cohesively so early in their tenure.

“I’d like to thank all the OAT staff involved for supporting the residential and for their superb contributions to our Workplace chats and assemblies which have really shaped the group. I’d also like to thank all the parents and carers who fully supported us throughout the weekend.

“Everyone involved is clearly delighted to be part of our first National Student Voice Council and we are looking forward to everything that lies ahead.”

The full list of those elected is:

  • Tyler May from Ormiston Rivers Academy as Chair, and Chair of the South region
  • Alice Willcott from Ormiston Bolingbroke Academy as Vice Chair
  • Myo Zin-Han from Ormiston Cliff Park as Secretary, and Chair of the East region
  • Romeo Salou from Ormiston Park Academy as Treasurer, and Deputy Chair of the South region
  • Ben Blagdon from Broadland High Ormiston Academy as Deputy Chair of the East region
  • Zavannah Rollason from Ormiston Shelfield Community Academy as Chair of the West region
  • Scarlett Farnell from Wodensborough Ormiston Academy as Deputy Chair of the West region
  • Alice Willcott from Ormiston Bolingbroke Academy as Chair of the North region
  • Jacob Keeling from Ormiston Horizon Academy as Deputy Chair of the North region
  • Harrison Mayhew-Kemp from Thomas Wolsey Ormiston Academy as Equalities Officer


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