School Council

Welcome to the School Council's Page!

School councillors are elected by their peers after presenting reasons why they believe they will represent the children well. The children have an assembly where last year's school councillors explain the role and what is involved. 

Democracy in Action

 

We have learned about COP 26 and how world leaders are working together to choose the right environmental priorities to focus on.

 

Our School Council and Eco Council have been working together in a similar way. School Council have asked children to vote on 6 possible areas of focus. The Eco Council will then prioritise their work in the most popular areas.

 

Which do you think will have the biggest impact?

 

-More Walk2School weeks

-More bins and recycling bins around school

-Save electricity by turning off screens and lights more often

-Grow vegetables and other plants on the school grounds

-Meat-free Mondays

Minutes of School Council Meeting  - October 19th 2021

1. New councillors were welcomed and we reminded ourselves of our role as advocates for our friends in our class and to discuss things that can make the school better.

 

2. We discussed our understanding of the school's mission statement and motto (Inspiring Excellence) and their suitability for children. To do this, we began by listing the things that we all felt were the most important purposes of the school: to teach children, to make lives better, to give education, to keep children safe, to make learning fun. 

We then looked closely at the mission statement to see if it reflected these important purposes. 

-It was unanimously agreed that the school's mission statement reflects what we want to achieve as a school (Mr Dyer reminded the council that their predecessors had been participants in its design). The Council therefore proposes that there is no need to change the mission statement at this stage. 

-It was also unanimously agreed that the phrase Inspiring Excellence is a 'good motto' for our mission, but that lots of us often forgot what it meant or that it was the school motto. The School Council proposes that Mr Dyer meets with other adults and parents to discuss whether we should change the phrase or do something to help children understand it, before meeting with the council again. 

 

3. We looked carefully at our school values and Mr Dyer helped councillors see the link between the school's mission and the chosen values. We studied the language used and asked Mrs Davison if it is easy to understand for younger children. The School Council proposes that the language used around our school values is updated to make it clearer for children to understand and uses the same language and images as our learning behaviours (such as Tommy Tortoise to help define endeavour). Mr Dyer proposes that the councillors help him make a video for parents and children to explain the values in an even clearer way! 

 

4. We agreed that the School Council will reward their trophy starting on Friday November 5th for classes showing the value of respect by trying hard to keep their environment tidy at the end of the day. 

School Council During Pandemic

Current restrictions make it hard for children to come together as representative councils, to share ideas or make plans of action. Due to the disruption to The 2020 academic year, we have extended our Council Representatives' roles into this academic year, too. 

 

Currently, the children have been able to support their peers by making videos about our anti-bullying policy and school values, which have been shared in assembly. The have also been working in their classrooms to notice which children have been demonstrating our learning behaviours well.

Reading Ambassadors

For 2020-2021 we have appointed three reading ambassadors from Year 6, whose role is to find, review and share books that they think other children will enjoy. They meet with Mr Dyer once a month and always invite three of their peers to attend, to discuss the new books they have read.

 

You can see some of their most recent reviews and recommendations on our Facebook page. 

Minutes from School Council Meeting with Mr Dyer - 11/11/2019

 

Pupils met with their peers, recently, to discuss several matters that would be put to Mr Dyer. 

 

1. A proposal was heard from two pupils in Year 2: Should school council expand to include KS1 representatives? This was carried with a unanimous vote.

Action: Mrs Cranmer to organise votes for KS1 as soon as possible with support of the School Council team.

2. Enrichment opportunities: proposal from year 4 member that every Friday afternoon is an enrichment opportunity. Could there be more opportunities like this. Action: Mr Dyer to discuss this with the teachers in terms of feasibility and how it might work. 

3. School Council agreed that the current uniform fulfils intended purpose and doesn't need consultation/change.

4. Mr Dyer to ensure that children are allowed on the field at lunchtime whenever it is not too wet.

5. Some pupils would like a wider collection of books in library and book boxes: £2000 is being spent on new books, including some donated by PTA. School Council reps will inform their classes that this has happened. 

6. Some classes don’t have much to do at wet play whereas some have lots. Atcion: Each School Councillor to do an audit of what they are able to do at wet play times and share with Mr Dyer.

7. Some of the computers in the lower site aren’t working. The PTA are increasing funding for IT equipment and we would like some of this to be spent on PCs.

9. The council also discussed homework and how it differs in each year group. Mr Dyer will take these opinions with him to Parent Forum this week. 

School Council Produce Anti-Bullying Policy for Children

In the last few weeks before handing over to new councillors, our School Council have finalised their child-friendly anti-bullying policy. It will be distributed to each class and promoted in an assembly during Anti-Bullying Week in November. 

 

You can see the new policy on the policies section of this website: https://www.brixington.devon.sch.uk/policies/

Mr Dyer met with our School Council today (January 31st) to discuss changes to our praise and reward systems. This is a result of meetings in every classroom about what we value as rewards. News of adjustments to our Dojo and Students of the Week systems will be sent out very soon!

Current School Council focus

*Gaining opinions from children across the school about areas we need to focus on

2017-2018

Our School Council were elected by their peers after presenting their visions for their school. 

Councillors met with Mr Dyer to discuss what they think are the strengths of the school and the areas for development. Our Year 4 team agreed that the children enjoy engaging lessons and a varied curriculum, but think we can all work harder to keep communal areas like libraries and cloakrooms tidy.

The Council also contributed to the school's new Playtime Rules, holding meetings with their own classes to discuss the successes and areas for improvement. They presented their findings to Mr Dyer, Mrs Cranmer and Ms Russell, and agreed actions.