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School Council

The School Council at Nelson Primary 

Welcome to our school council section of the website. My name is Mrs Bi.  I am also a Learning Mentor at Nelson, and deal with attendance matters. From this year I will also be leading the work of our school council.

I am very excited about working with the new school councillors who will be elected by their classes by Friday 1st July.  It will be great to meet with them and plan out the important work we will do this year. I will also make sure that we order some special school councillor jumpers so that children are easily identified around the school. Below I have set out some key information you may want to know about our school council. 

Good luck to all the candidates who are hoping to be councillors this year! We will publish the results as soon as we can.

Our School Council aims to encourage our children to:

  • Develop confidence and responsibility and make the most of their abilities
  • Prepare them to play an active and responsible role in society, whilst promoting their social and academic aspirations.
  • Develop healthy, safer lifestyles
  • Develop good relationships and respect the differences between people
  • To have a “voice” and to share their opinions and ideas with others#

Why?

We value the benefits of operating a School Council. The School Council  at Nelson represents the whole school. Our School Council will help enable pupils with positive attitudes to exert a positive influence. 

Our School Council aims to ensure our children have:

  • A safe, happy and fair learning environment
  • A forum to voice their concerns and act upon them
  • A structured opportunity to learn problem-solving skills
  • An opportunity to take an active role in the organisation of the school
  • An opportunity to experience a democratic process

 

Our School Council should encourage pupils to develop:

  • A sense of ownership over policy and practice
  • A consensus over school issues such as behaviour
  • A responsibility towards the school community and the environment

Our School Council should give pupils the experience of:

  • Planning, organising and monitoring small projects
  • Speaking and listening skills
  • Debating skills
  • Mediation and negotiating skills
  • Basic budgeting and managing money

Elections:

Class elections will be held in September/October every year so that different representatives can put forward their election speeches as well as develop the full potential of the School Council to complete tasks.  Two candidates will be elected from each class in KS1 and KS2 - one male and one female.

Organisation:

  • Two representatives from each KS2 class
  • Two representatives from each KS1 class
  • Lead Staff Member- Mrs Bii Majahid
  • An agenda is to be organised by the lead staff member.
  • Minutes will be recorded by the children
  • The School Council can bid for funding from the Headteacher- Miss Forrest, but they will need to prepare a proposal, manage any delegated funds, and report on the impact.
  • It is a very responsible job, and School Council members will share information with their class, and get ideas and views from pupils by talking.

Link between the School and Class Councils:

Each class will have a class council in which issues are discussed associated with their class. If, however, an issue does occur which they feel needs to be forwarded to the School Council, then the issue will be presented to the School Council through the class representative.

The School Council will be leading more meetings with the whole school to hear their feedback on a termly basis. 

Feedback will be provided from each School Council Meeting through minutes from the meetings and feedback from the lead staff member.

Running the School Council Meetings:

The School Council will vote for a chair. This is the person who makes sure everyone gets a turn to speak and encourages all members to contribute. In addition, the School Council will ensure someone takes notes during the meeting and the notes should assist the feedback classes receive after the meeting.

At the end of the School Council’s meeting, everyone needs to know what they have to do next. The chair needs to make sure members know what to do and what they have to say to their class.

Giving Feedback to Pupils:

Following the School Council Meeting, School Council members speak to their class during classroom assembly time to let them know what is going on and to tell the class about the issues being discussed and what is happening next.  This will encourage more children to contribute to further meetings, share worries and let members know the things which could be done to improve the school.  The school will record School Council Achievements on the school website.