Student leadership
Student leadership helps young people find their voices, participate in decision-making, and understand their rights and responsibilities as active citizens. It helps students have a real impact on their learning and school environment and prepares them to participate meaningfully in their community.
Students can be leaders in the classroom, through their actions in the playground, through their support for others, or their involvement in academic, sporting, cultural or local community events or projects.
For more information about opportunities in NSW public schools visit Student voice and leadership.
In a school such as Hornsby Girls High, all our students are gifted academically, and many of them are also multi-talented young women in the Creative and Performing Arts, in Sport, in School and Community Service activities, and in Leadership roles.
There are many co-curricular and extra-curricular activities in which our students may become involved to enrich their enjoyment of school life. All the students are encouraged to participate, and it is sometimes a very difficult task for the school to try and spread the leadership responsibilities across a range of students and a range of years. There are many natural leaders at HGHS. What follows are lists of current student leadership across various roles. We hope it will encourage even more students to seek such positions at this great school. Even if you don't succeed in gaining a formal position the first time, don't give up, take the initiative, and keep trying.
As well, it should be pointed out that there are many students who display their leadership capabilities in a wide variety of situations and activities, even if they do not hold "official" leadership positions. We congratulate all these students for their commitment to making our school an even better place!
Prefects
At Hornsby Girls High School we have a prefect system with a School Captain, Vice-Captain, 2 Senior Prefects and 14 other prefects. The Prefects are elected through secret ballot by the students in Years 9-12 and the Staff. The Prefects then elect the 4 Executive Positions of School Captain, School Vice-Captain and Senior Prefects.
Our 2024 School Captain is Rosanna Mar-Young, the Vice-Captain is Elizabeth Vizor and Senior Prefects Rachel Gibson and Hiru Kariyawasam.
Student Representative Council (SRC)
The Student Representative Council (SRC) consists of four to five representatives from Years 7 to 9. A further eight students are elected from Years 10 and 11. President and Vice-President of the SRC are chosen from this group.
In 2024, Lauren Wilson is Head of SRC and Helen Bui Deputy Head of SRC.
The aim of the SRC is to provide students with opportunities to develop their skills in student leadership. To this end, meetings are held regularly at school where the students discuss and action important issues.
Year representatives also enjoy contact with students from SRCs at other schools by attending forums, workshops, meetings and conferences.
House Leaders
All the House Leaders are elected by the House members at House meetings.
Peer Support Leaders
Peer Support is a long standing Positive Education Program at Hornsby Girls High School and involves Year 7 and Year 10 students. The Year 10 Peer Support Leaders are chosen by the Staff following appropriate training for all candidates. They lead a small group of Year 7 students to ensure a smooth transition into the school.
Peer Support sessions focus on such topics as strengths, mindfulness, positive thinking, communication, networks of support, clarifying personal values and developing confidence and trust. The scheme has always been evaluated by all participants as highly successful and makes the transition from Primary to Secondary School easy and enjoyable.