Highfield and Brookham School has announced its pupil leadership team for this academic year.

Iona Dumas and Wilf Walters have been named Head Girl and Head Boy respectively, with Emily Pearce and Zac Hawkes acting as their deputies.

The school takes the appointment of its pupil leadership team very seriously and the new incumbents had to come through a thorough selection process.

All pupils are actively encouraged to apply for the prestigious roles toward the end of their time in Year 7 and those that decide to apply must submit a formal letter of application to Highfield and Brookham Head Suzannah Cryer explaining why they should be considered for the position.

Aided by her senior management team, Mrs Cryer reviews each application and draws up a shortlist before interviewing the pupils. The entire staff body at Highfield and Brookham are also invited to share their thoughts on the candidates before a final decision is made, where one boy and one girl from the oldest year group in the school are selected for the coveted leadership roles, as well as their deputies.

Mrs Cryer said: “The appointment of our pupil leadership team involves a stringent process which reflects the importance of the roles on offer. Despite that, we are always inundated with applications each year, which demonstrates the regard in which the positions are held by the children themselves.

“Naturally, that gives us some difficult decisions to make each year, but it’s a really nice problem to have. The quality of the applications is always really high and all of the children who apply, whether successful or not, can be really proud of their effort and commitment.”

As well as appointing the Head Girl and Head Boy and their deputies, the school also named its Heads of Boarding, Heads of House, and prefect teams.

The purpose of the pupil leadership team is to be role models for the school, to ensure that pupils’ voices are heard and to represent the school at events such as prizegiving and open mornings.

The full pupil leadership team is:

Heads of School: Iona Dumas, Wilf Walters

Deputy Heads of School: Emily Pearce, Zac Hawkes

Heads of Boarding: Mylie Kyere, Max Grant

Deputy Heads of Boarding: Cecilia Jiang, Jack Hofmeyr

Heads of House: Jamie Borwick, Clemmie Coller (Agincourt), Harry Remers, Emily Law (Trafalgar), Alec Williams, Izzy Grist (Waterloo)

Deputy Heads of House: Xander Salusbury, Tiggy Walder (Agincourt), Caelan MacDonald, Eliza Welby-Everard (Trafalgar), Ollie Glasgow, Tallulah Hawtin (Waterloo)

Arts Prefects: Rupert Byam-Cook, Mia Bicknell, Oscar Jackson, Elinor Laws, Nick Ai

Pre-Prep Prefects (EYFC): Milly Valentine, Digby Leach, Amelie Tyrrell-Evans

Pre-Prep Prefects (KS1): Paloma Kelton, Libby Miller, Freddie Harris

Peer listeners: Alec Williams, Wilf Walters, Tallulah Hawtin, Xander Salusbury, Clemmie Coller, Sophie Barraclough, Eliza Welby-Everard, Emily Law, Jack Hofmeyr