General News
4 March, 2026
Students step into leadership
COBDEN Primary School has chosen four Year Six students as the captains for 2026 and they’re proud to step into the role for the year after a nerve-wracking selection process.
First the students wrote a letter explaining why they wanted to be a school captain, followed by an interview which determined if they were successful which all the students agreed was “intimidating”.
School captain Ella Davis said she was inspired by her drive to help people and was having fun as a captain so far in the capacity of running school assemblies.
“I put my name up to be a school captain because I like helping people and honestly, I just really like the point of wearing a badge – it just feels good,” she said.
“I kind of wanted to help people reach their goals and I wanted to make sure everyone feels comfortable and safe at school.
“I have a lot of values I think a school captain should have and I really like talking so I’m good at assemblies too.
“At assemblies we get to stand up at the front and run it, we read off a script while the teachers put a PowerPoint on while we invite the teachers up to share their weekly announcements and stuff.”
The other school captain, Zarli Dower, said she also enjoyed being able to help people and wanted to encourage respect in the school yard.
“I love helping people and I want to make sure that everyone always gets in and has a go like on sports days and stuff,” she said.
“A change I want to see as a captain is the respect we have for each other, sometimes it gets a bit low – we’re all very negative towards each other sometimes so I would want to change that.
“I’m good at being organised and when there’s a problem in the yard I’m good at getting involved and good at finding ways to solve things.”
The pair are flanked by Carter Murfett and Kyla Bailey, their vice-captains, who are ready to support them and the rest of the students at Cobden Primary School.
“Usually I don’t put my name up for many things so I thought it would be different if I did for this,” Carter said.
“I just put my name up and had a go and I ended up getting it.
“I want to help people, be kind and if anyone needs a hand I can give them it.
“As a captain I can speak at assemblies – I like speaking in front of people.”
Kyla had a unique inspiration going into the captaincy application process.
“My brother (Jaybe) was a captain three years before me and I just saw the way people respected him and his name still goes around the yard,” she said.
“People see me sometimes and say, ‘Oh, you’re Jaybe’s sister.’”
“I’d love for people to show more respect to others and care for the equipment more.”
Kyla said they all received guidance from the previous school captains and they were looking forward to the year ahead.
“I was nervous for the interview where we had to sit in the meeting room and talk in front of the teachers,” she said.
“The last school captains sat with us and told us what questions they’d ask and gave us a run through but that just made me more nervous.
“I’m definitely excited to be one of the school captains.
“I’m most excited to spend the year with the three lovely people who are the other captains.”
Pick up next week’s edition of the Cobden Timboon Coast Times to read about the Timboon P-12 School junior school captains.
Read More: Cobden