Positive Action Leaders

Message from our PALS

PALs stands for ‘Positive Action Leaders’ and as Pals, we promote a sense of positivity and community in our school.

Our committee began in 2013, originally called the ‘Anti-Bullying Ambassadors. Students were trained in the Ambassador programme, which was founded in the United Kindom to fulfill The late Princess Diana’s legacy that young people can make a difference. This programme was so successful in our school that the achievements of our predecessors won the Princess Diana Award in 2016. These students worked diligently to ensure our school environment was a safe and happy community. They truly believed that young people could change the world.

In 2023 the Positive Action Leaders were formed. While working to highlight and prevent bullying behavior we reach out to all of our peers, who may find it easier to talk to us rather than a teacher about a worry or concern they may have.

Our goal is to make our school community a positive and welcoming environment for everybody. As Positive Action Leaders, we are always available to lend a helping hand in times of need.

At the beginning of this school year, 1st years were welcomed into Mount Sackville and to help ease their anxiety in a new environment we introduced them to the Big sister buddy program. In this program, each 1st year is paired with a 4th Year student. These 4th-year students are there to assist with their queries and concerns and to provide much-needed guidance and support. The big sister is someone who is caring and empathetic. At the start of this academic year, we also provide each student who is new to the school with an opportunity to make their mark on our Friendship wall. Every new student is invited to place a handprint on the Friendship wall to symbolise their arrival into our school community. This is a great chance for new students and new staff to feel a sense of belonging in Mount Sackville.

Several times throughout the school year the PALs have organised compliment days. We leave compliments and affirmations on student’s lockers and desks and encourage them to share the compliments with others as we the PALs understand and recognise that one small compliment can make someone’s day. For example this week as well as compliments, we also left affirmations and words of encouragement on the desks of 3rd and 6th year students to help them through their mock exams. We also left them a little treat as a reward for all their hard work and study. Throughout the Christmas season, we organised Christmas movies in the school library for all students to enjoy. We encouraged everyone to join in the fun and celebrate Christmas together as a community.

With the help of our teachers, we organised table quizzes at lunchtime and had prizes for the winning table. We find such lunchtime activities very important for students who may feel isolated, especially if their best friend is absent and they need somewhere to go.

For future projects, we plan to bring joy into the school community and raise funds that will be directly invested in our initiatives, and this will also benefit the broader community of the school. We plan to do this by organising a bake sale for Valentine’s Day, or we like to call it Galentine’s Day to reunite all the friendships in our school and to raise people’s spirits with nice baked goods. For Internet Safety Day we plan to raise awareness on how to stay safe both on and offline.

We feel privileged to have been chosen as PALS and feel that our work reflects the dictum of our foundress, Blessed Anne Marie Javouhey, “to do a little good”. Even if we make a difference to just one student, then our work is worthwhile.