At Ashcombe Primary School, we are proud to offer a wide range of Student Leadership opportunities, enabling our pupils to develop confidence, responsibility, and a strong sense of community.

Our School Council, led by Laura Penny, gives children a voice in shaping school life and representing their peers. The Spark Squad, guided by Kerry Northover, focuses on promoting positivity, wellbeing, and making learning inclusive for all. Our passionate Eco‑Team, run by Chris Penny, works hard to help the school become more environmentally friendly through sustainability projects and awareness campaigns. The Librarians, supported by Kate Skeen, help to nurture a love of reading by organising books, assisting younger pupils, and championing our library spaces. Our energetic Sports Leaders, trained by Tyler Ashmead, encourage active play and support sporting events throughout the year. The Playground Buddies, led by Christina Young, help to make breaktimes enjoyable and inclusive by supporting friendships and positive play. In addition, our OPAL Leaders, coordinated by Beth Hillier and Gemma Waller, play a key role in enhancing outdoor play opportunities as part of our OPAL programme.

Together, these leadership teams help create a caring, motivated, and vibrant school community.

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Spark Squad

Spark Squad is our new mini SEND council.

Everyone’s brain works in its own special way. Some brains are really good at remembering facts, some are amazing at imagining stories, and others are great at solving puzzles. If someone learns or thinks differently, that’s okay—it just means their brain has its own style.

Just like we all need different things—glasses to see, shoes to run—some people need extra quiet or more time to learn. Everyone’s brain is unique, and that is something to celebrate. We want to make Ashcombe a place of learning that celebrates everyone’s different brain styles and make learning inclusive for all.

As part of the council, the children meet every other Wednesday at lunchtimes and discuss things they like, do not like and what they would like to change about their learning environment, lessons, playtimes and anything else they can think of.

So far because of Spark Squad, Ashcombe now has a dedicated quiet room for use at lunchtimes as this was the biggest part of their day that the children identified they struggled with. The quiet room is available every lunchtime for children that have been referred by an adult. It is a place that they can regulate themselves by reading, colouring, doing word searches or just having some quiet time.

We are also about to start a trial of playing music in the lunch halls to see if this makes a difference to the noise levels and atmospheres of these as this was another area the children identified they struggled with.