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At Burnt Mill Academy, we strongly believe in the power of active listening as a cornerstone of effective communication and learning. We encourage our students to practice active listening in all learning and social settings as it fosters a deeper understanding of material, promotes respectful dialogue, and enhances collaboration among peers. By honing these skills, students not only improve their academic performance but also develop essential life skills that will serve them in personal and professional relationships.

Our student leaders began their training with 16-piece bingo board which had information on it such as "Someone who attends and enrichment club at BMA" and "Someone who was awarded at the Christmas Celebration assembly". This challenge was an icebreaker task that had students from Year 7 to Year 11 communicate together to answer all 16 parts in 4 minutes.

The second task was for students to draw the perfect student leader: exaggerated features were encouraged as part of the task which saw students draw larger ears to represent an active listening, broad shoulders to embody responsibility and a big smile to signify approachability.

Thirdly, our students learned of the 4 key factors of active listening: Non-verbal communication, verbal communication, responding and focus. In the final task, students paired off to practice each of the four factors in a 2 minute task: the task had the first student tell a one minute personal story of what they were made proud of and the second student had the opportunity to practice the four learned skills of active listening. The students paid tremendous respect to each other and supported each other through the task. It was clear that those involved felt valued and listened to.