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Unity Primary School

Student Leadership

Discover how every student at UPS is nurtured as a leader, building values, skills, and confidence to lead themselves, their peers, and the school.

Last updated 10 July 2026

Developing Students as Leaders

As our world becomes increasingly complex and changes at a faster pace, leadership is no longer seen as the domain of few who hold the expertise or authority but is distributed and shared by all members of the group. The need for leaders who can build bridges across cultures and operate in the midst of technological change has also increased in our globalised world.

Large group of masked primary school students in uniforms standing in a school hall with a stage and red curtains.

Many leadership theories have been developed and have diversely defined leadership as a set of traits, competencies, behaviours or extent of influence (Dugan & Komives, 2011). Notwithstanding, they share a common belief that leadership is values-driven, with good leadership necessarily grounded in the sound values of the leader.

Based on Kouzes’ The Leadership Challenge’, leadership is not about personality; but about behaviour - an observable set of skills & abilities.

Students in Unity shirts watch a leadership slideshow; right shows a teacher and student with mic addressing seated children.

Taking reference from research and Kouzes’ theories, in the area of student leadership development, UPS focuses on the inculcation of the 21st century skills & competencies to attain the desired student outcomes of Passionate & Self-Directed Learner, Resilient & All-Rounded Individual, Concerned & Active Citizen who are anchored firmly on a set of core values. 

Three photos of school children in uniforms posing, sitting in a circle with a teacher, and seated in an auditorium.

Guiding Principles of SLD

Our student leadership is steered by the school’s philosophy that Everyone Matters & hence the following beliefs:

  1. Every student can be developed as a leader.

  2. Leadership opportunities should be provided for all students.

  3. Leadership development needs to be intentional.

Collage of students in gym: group photo, kids huddled over paper, and girl speaking into mic on stage.

As such, we seek to provide learning opportunities for students to:

  1. Lead Self (Tier 1)

  2. Lead Peers beyond Class (Tier 2)

  3. Lead School (Tier 3)

Three school scenes: two boys with a tablet, students reviewing papers, and pupils presenting on stage with a Singapore-themed slideshow.

Approach to Leadership Development

The school expects that a leader knows the way, goes the way & shows the way. It is derived from the five principles of Kouzes’ The Leadership Challenge (Model the Way, Inspire a Shared Vision, Challenge the Process, Enable Others to Act, Encourage the Heart) & inspired by John C. Maxwell.

Table showing 5 Leadership Challenge Principles mapped to definitions for Head, Hands, and Heart categories.
Collage of schoolchildren in uniforms doing group activities indoors, outdoors, and posing with adults.

We take a customised approach to student leadership training and development. We believe that Student Leaders must be able to demonstrate the school values of R3ICH (knows the way) & the desired behaviours & SE competencies (goes the way & shows the way) under each respective tier of leadership. As such, we take into account the needs of each segment of student leaders as we provide progressive development throughout the six years of a student’s journey at UPS.

Students in school uniforms sit on a gym floor doing activities and pose outdoors with two zebra mascots.