St Paul's C of E Nursery & Primary School

School Council

Why do we have a School Council?

The School’s Council is an ideal opportunity for children  to get more involved in the way the school is run. We respect and value the thoughts and opinions of our children and it gives everyone the opportunity to make their voices heard and feel part of the whole school community, through their council representatives.

Councillors develop skills such as confidence, communication and negotiation. It is the responsibility of each Councillor to ensure that they express both their own views and the views of all the other pupils they represent. We want to encourage our pupils to respect the fundamental British values of democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty and mutual respect and tolerance of those of different faiths and beliefs.

Smart School Council

We are very proud to be a part of the Smart School Councils community. This means that every child within our school community is a school council member and each child has the opportunity to regularly share ideas, give feedback and inform decisions in our school through our class council meetings. 

What is a Smart School Council

 

Communication Team
Our Communication Team work with our Smart School Council Lead Teacher, Mrs Bevan. Children have applied for their roles and each have different responsibilities such as assembly leaders, question finders, headteacher and governor updaters and action team developers. All of the Communication Team are responsible for:
•    Meeting with the lead teacher and Communication Team once a month
•    Getting as many children involved with school action as possible
•    Working with school staff
•    Respecting different views and opinions

Meet our Communication Team

Class Council Meetings
We regularly hold class council meetings where we are able to gather ideas and feedback from every child in the school. The Communication Team share a question with the school and children are given the opportunity to discuss this in groups before sharing their feedback and submitting the results of their discussions to the Communication Team. The Communication Team are then able to share the results with the senior leadership team and act on the feedback received. Some of the questions we have discussed this year include:
•    Would you recommend our school?
•    How many hours of exercise do you complete per week?
•    How can we share Christmas cards in a more environmentally friendly way?

Action Teams
As we develop our Smart School Council community, we will be inviting any child within the school to set up and run an Action Team. All children need is a good idea and a member of staff to sponsor them in leading social action within our school community!

Who would make a good school councillor?

Any child in the school can stand to be a school council representative for their class. It is not a decision made by teachers but by the children. A good school councillor needs to have some of the following qualities:

• A good listener and speaker
• Friendly character
• A team player
• Keen to make a contribution to improving our school
• Able to represent the views of others
• Willing to give up some of their time
• Has lots of good ideas
• Sets a good example to others
• Good communicator