School Council
The School's Council is an ideal opportunity for pupils to get more involved in the way the school is run. The School Council benefits the whole school, pupils and teachers, because it provides opportunities for pupils to communicate their feelings as well as influence decisions that are made. Councillors develop skills such as confidence, communication and negotiation. It is the responsibility of each Councillor to ensure that they express both their own views and the views of all the other pupils they represent.
Who can be a member of Gateway’s School Council?
We have two active School Councils at both KS1 and KS2. At KS2 there are 12 members of the School Council. Each class elects a school councillor at the beginning of the year in a class assembly. The children in each class talk about the roles and responsibilities they think their class councillor should have and then every child has the opportunity to put themselves forward and say why they would be a good choice. There is then an anonymous democratic vote and the person with the most votes is appointed. The person with the second most votes is appointed deputy in case of absence.
What do we do?
Members of the Council take part in discussions and votes and also feed back any relevant information to their class. At times they are requested to ask their class for ideas or take class votes relating to discussions by the Council. The KS2 School Council meets fortnightly on a Monday with Mrs Cleary to ensure that the pupil voice of Gateway is heard. Our school should be a happy and secure place for every child to learn in and the School Council is there to help the adults in the school make it happen. Along with the House Captains, we are able to help run whole school competitions and run assemblies.
What have we been working on this term?
School Council have had a busy start to the year!
Exciting Writing Competition
Writing is something that Gateway Pupils are always working hard on, and School Council wanted to organise a competition to encourage budding young writers. We teamed up with an organisation called, ‘Young Writers’ to set this competition up and it was a fabulous success; we had over seventy entries from Year Three to Six!
Staying Safe and Anti-Bullying Learning
Staying Safe is one of the most important things here at Gateway and the School Council wanted to encourage the whole school to help each other to feel safe at school and at home.
We organised a week of learning about keeping ourselves safe that included lots of different fun learning opportunities. Some of our work has been shared through displays in school. Here, you can see leaflets, created by Year Five, to help children and give them advice. There are also some very thoughtful ‘Problem Page’ responses to challenging situations of bullying.
Council members have also arranged a poster competition to help send a clear message: STOP.
They also put ‘Things I want my teacher to know’ boxes inside every classroom so children can tell their teachers any worries they have. One of the best ways of preventing bullying is to be kind: Pupils at Gateway have been working on spreading kindness in in what they do and sharing their appreciation of kindness by writing ‘kindness thank you notes’.
What will we do next?
This term, Gateway pupils are focusing on the value of Co-Operation. Our assemblies and some lessons will have a focus on how we can create an environment where everyone feels safe, respected and is treated fairly.