School Government

Article 12 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) says that children and young people should have a say in decisions that affect their lives. Our School Government and Class Councils provide a meaningful way in which pupils can voice their opinions and have their views taken into account in decisions which impact upon them.

Elections

At the start of the year, all children can nominate themselves as a candidate to be their class representative in the School Government. If they nominate themselves, they must be able to explain why they would like the position, how they would be an effective representative and what they would like to achieve for the school. These are presented in a range of age-appropriate ways across the school including speeches, posters and campaign videos.

Once all candidates have campaigned for the position, children in each class can vote for one girl and one boy to represent their class. Once the votes have been counted, the new representatives are announced.

Organisation

The School Government meets together with Mr Cicinski or Mr Wright on a regular basis to discuss whole-school issues, make decisions about the focus for future projects and get feedback from each individual class.

Classes each hold regular class council meetings which are led by the elected class representatives and their teacher. The classes may discuss issues brought back to the class council from School Government meetings, may discuss ways in which they can help support current School Government projects or may identify topics for the School Government to discuss in their following meeting.  In these ways, every child in school has an input into school projects and has a way of having their voice heard.

The School Government is organised into 'departments' and classes take it in turn to focus their attention on each department throughout the school year. The current departments combine whole-school and national areas of focus.

The School Government also helps organise a range of events during these terms to raise money or awareness for a particular cause they, or the school, have selected. 

Every member of the council wears a badge so that they can be easily identified by their peers if there is a question they would like to ask, an idea they would like to offer or an issue which they would like to raise.