School Council

We have a very strong School Council here at Sylvester Primary Academy, this group of elected children have a positive presence throughout our school. School Council can provide a meaningful way in which pupils can voice their opinions and have their views taken into account in decisions which impact upon them. ... It is an important and useful way for us here at school to provide leadership and development opportunities for our pupils.

During these unusual times, our School Council still has a voice and we need to hear that voice!

School Council gives our students an opportunity to organise and carrying out school activities and projects and help share student ideas, interests and concerns while helping the school community. Although that can be a challenge these days, we need to get our council up and running and get our ideas heard.

We have 13 council members, made up of 2 members of each class are voted into this role and they represent their class in sharing ideas and suggestions and a Chairperson who is elected for a 2-year term. We expect all our School Council members to always wear a full and neat uniform, always present with a positive manner and a respectful attitude. Furthermore, attendance at the bi-weekly school council meetings is required

Do you want to be a School Council Representative for your class?

Then…… do you:

• Display positive classroom behaviour.
• Have a genuine interest in the welfare of others.
• Consistently portray qualities of responsibility, respect, empathy, courage, integrity and perseverance.

Within our School Council there are many roles that students have additional responsibilities for: The Chairperson is a very responsible position that involves making sure that Counsellors behave in a sensible manner and making sure that the Secretary, Treasurer and Vice Chair are doing their jobs well. The Job of the Chair is to:

• Run the meetings using the agenda

• Make sure everyone gets a chance to speak

• Make sure the meeting goes well and keeps to the time allowed

• Keep a record of how much money the Council has from income & expenditure

• Let the Council know how much is available to spend

Each School Councillor is responsible to attend meetings which are held every other week on Friday afternoons, this gives us a chance to discuss current issues and go through actions from previous meetings. Each Counsellor has a class ‘notebook’ which they write down ideas from their class and present it at these meetings. Each member has a voice and shares these ideas and all discussions are included in the meeting minutes.

After a meeting the Councillor will need to tell their classmates what happened during the meeting so that they know that the council are doing and what are our future plans involve. It is better to do this straight after the meeting when they can remember what was said.

It isn’t easy to stand in front of your class and report back so read out the main points and keep it short, your teacher will help you if you ask. When they have finished, they ask if anyone has any questions if they do, they write them down in their notebook to bring also to the next meeting.

We collaborate with other primary schools in the local area to support and amend any policies that are part of our school life. (i.e. bullying policy etc.) We most recently attended an Anti-bullying conference where we received training on becoming ‘Anti-Bullying Ambassadors’. This empowered us to better support those children who are struggling on the playground with friendships. We are easily recognisable on the playground as we wear our high-vi jackets so children can seek us out.

We recently attended a conference which provided training on Mental Health and Well-being awareness called ‘Every Mind Matters’. This training has enabled us to better support our classmates when they need it and understand how we can make ourselves available as listening ear to our peers. We also support our ‘TELLING’ culture that we promote throughout school.

School Council also play a very active role in fundraising throughout the school year for school funds and local causes.

School Council have the responsibility for the ‘Meet and Greet’ of all parents during parents evening, this also gives us an opportunity to capture parents’ views through surveys.

Each year as a member of School Council our KS2 representatives are fortunate enough to visit the Houses of Parliament and attend debates in the house of commons. We also get to have a meet and greet with Sir George Howarth.