What is a School Council?

• It is a way for children to become involved in the way the school is run
• An opportunity for children to share and express their views
• It is a way in which children can influence decision making
• Our School Council is an opportunity to make a change

Why have a School Council?

The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child says that children have the right to:-

• be looked after and cared for
• have the things they need to survive
• participate in decision making which may affect their lives

Article 12 - the Rights of The Child:
Your right to express the views that you have, and for your views to be listened to in anything that affects you.

Being part of our School Council supports the right to participate in the life of our school and for children to be able to say what they think.

Democracy is at the heart of British Values, putting themselves forward and taking part in elections gives valuable experience of a process that children will participate in when they are grown up.

How does our School Council work?

• A link teacher organises our School Council
• Each class elects two representatives each term
• Year 6 house captains are also school councillors  
• Meetings are held weekly
• Agendas are organised, minutes are taken and shared
• The link teacher drives the agenda but children and other staff members can have an input
• All representatives have the opportunity to speak and are encouraged to do so
• We assign actions to follow up decisions
• Each class teacher makes time to read the minutes and display them
• Representatives can raise issues with their classmates
• We vote on every decision
• If there are any issues we need to raise with the teachers; we may ask the teachers concerned to attend a meeting or have the issue discussed at a staff meeting
• We can discuss any issues that we want to. They are usually concerned with school rules, policies, equipment, bullying, the playground and school grounds, school meals, clubs, etc.
• At the end of every meeting, we always have the agenda item 'any other business'.
• We have a school council progress-board, which we use to keep everyone up to date. 

What have we achieved so far?

• Setting up a school Buddy system
• Improvement to school dinners
• Playtime games for lunch times
• Helped to introduce healthy eating scheme at breaktime
• Organise fund raising activities – Children in Need, Comic Relief, Malawi School project
• Pond/Wildlife Area refurbishment
• 1967 School Lunch
• Christmas and Summer Fete stalls
• Instructions for playground games for children in Malawi
• Writing letters of thanks to visitors

• We encourage participation in competitions
• We represent a cross-section of the school in Anti-bullying surveys