School Council

 

Who is in our School Council?

 

*Photo pending*

 

What does a school council do?

A school council does a number of things:

  • The school council meet with Mrs Ruddock and Miss Roe to discuss and sort out queries within school. These may include school lunches, behaviour or ideas for fundraising events.
  • Members of the school council will be responsible for carrying out the ideas that have been agreed, such as planning discos, writing articles for the newsletter, or meeting with catering staff.

What is a school council?

A school council is a group of students who are elected to represent the views of all pupils and to improve their school. “School council” means all kinds of school-based groups run by students, including fairtrade groups and Rota Kids.

What jobs are there?

Each year, every class will normally elect 2 representatives to be members of the school council.

The council will then meet to elect officers such as a chair or secretary.

What makes a good school council?

A good school council representitive is one that represents the views of all students and gets things done.

Here are things that make a council effective:

  • Regular meetings, at HPS we meet fortnightly on a Monday.
  • A council that is not too big, at Harden we have 14 members.
  • Class/Form councils that meet regularly, we have a weekly class assembly where items can be discussed.
  • Good communication between representatives and their class, or council members at Harden are elected and based on good communicators.
  • Smaller groups (subcommittees) working on specific events or issues such as Fairtrade council.

Do they get anything done?

Good school councils do get things done and examples from other schools include councils who:

  • Successfully campaigned to the local council and got their toilets sorted out
  • Re-designed the school cafeteria and lunch menu
  • Reduced bullying by introducing a telephone helpline for victims
  • Designed a new homework diary and sold over a thousand copies
  • Changed the school uniform from blazer and tie to comfortable sweatshirts

What is the history of school councils?

School Councils have been around for around 40 years, but now with citizenship being taught, there are many more around.

The government says that school councils are important but they aren’t forcing schools to have one.