Collaboration, teamwork, and the Trust’s core vision: Achieving more together.
On 27th January 2025, student leaders from across West Midlands Academy Trust (WMAT) came together to take part in an inspiring academy student leadership event, focusing on collaboration, teamwork, and the Trust’s core vision: Achieving more together.
The event provided a unique opportunity for students to share experiences, discuss leadership, and explore ways to enhance student-led initiatives across the Trust.
The afternoon began with an introduction and an icebreaker activity, giving student leaders the chance to meet and build connections. One highlight of the sessions involved a teambuilding challenge, where students worked together to construct the tallest freestanding paper tower – building on creativity, problem-solving and teamwork.
“The WMAT event was extremely successful and interesting as we got to share our existing student leadership roles and developed new ideas together for the future, whilst playing fun ice breaker games to get to know each other. It was very beneficial for all of the schools to be able to do this and find out what we can do together to achieve a common goal!“
Each school delivered a presentation, showcasing their leadership initiatives and reflecting on ways to strengthen student voice and leadership across WMAT.
- Hall Green School students highlighted their work on community projects, including fundraising events, mentoring roles and student-led assemblies.
- Kings Norton Girls’ School demonstrated their commitment to student inclusivity, with a focus on bringing students together through movie nights and focus on student wellbeing through hosting yoga sessions before key GCSE and A-Level exams.
- Swanshurst School shared their impactful student-led initiatives, such as their annual Grand Iftar, and their work on student voice feedback on a toilet refurbishment project.
Throughout the session, students worked together to define what ‘Achieving more together’ meant to them, identifying key ways to collaborate more effectively across schools. This piece of work will be shared with the Executive Leadership Team and Trustees, ensuring student voice plays a vital role in shaping a future of the Trust.
“The event was a fantastic opportunity to exchange ideas and learn from each other as we come together to form an academy. Hearing different perspectives from all three schools provided new ideas and inspiration into areas where we can improve our school, as well as allowing us to share successful initiatives that other schools may adopt. The discussions made me excited for the future, and I look forward to the events and collaborations between our schools.”
The event was a fantastic step in strengthening student leadership across WMAT. Students expressed interest in future networking events, joint charity events and inter-school sports tournaments.
A huge well done to all the students who took part in this exciting collaborative event.
“This event was wonderful; I thought it was the best possible way to get the schools to support and connect with each other via their students. Most importantly, I learnt about ‘Achieving More Together,’ which I interpreted as coming together as a collective and brainstorming how we could improve our education, environment, and school values as a whole. Though WMAT is in its early stages, we already have that sense of community here, which is what we need!”
Find out more about WMAT’s vision and governance structure by exploring the WMAT website, as well as following us on Facebook, LinkedIn and Bluesky.