What is a School Council and why do we have one at Horbury St Peter’s and Clifton Primary school?

A School Council is a group of children who are elected by their peers to represent the views of all pupils and raise issues and initiatives to make the school an even better environment.

The School Council benefits the whole school because it provides opportunities for pupils to communicate their feelings as well as influence decisions that are made within school.

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.

What are the aims of the School Council?

• To make sure our school is a happy and safe place for children
• To make sure our children have their voices heard and feel part of the whole school community
• To encourage all children in the school to voice concerns and suggest school improvements
• To make sure any suggestions or concerns are listened to and actioned

Who can be a member of the School Council?

We have an active School Council with 20 boys and girls from Year 1 to Year 6 representing their fellow pupils. Each councillor is elected by their classmates at the beginning of the school year after a short speech explaining why they are suitable for the role. The class then secretly vote for the 2 candidates that they think would be the best people to represent their class for the academic year. The chosen members then elect a Chair, an Assistant Chair, a Secretary and a Treasurer.

What have our School Council achieved so far this year?

• We have met with Mrs Senior (one of the school dinner ladies) to share our views on potential new dinner choices.
• We held a Pyjama Day to raise money for Children in Need and raised an amazing £430.
• We have created posters to be displayed around the school which remind children of the different types of healthy snacks that they can bring in to eat at break time.
• We are currently creating a ‘Kindness Crew’ which will be run by a group of children in Year 6 who can help other children on the playground, to help sort out minor disagreements between children and to look after those who are upset or just need someone to talk to.

Got a concern or an idea?

Let your School Council representative know.

School Council Tasks

The school council have been busy creating a pupil survey. They then delivered this to their classes and collated the results. The area to develop was:

"I am happy at playtime and lunchtimes" 

Because of this we spoke to our classes again and realised that we would like more equipment to play with and a buddy bench, so that if we didn't have anyone to play with, we could sit there and wait for someone to come and play with us. 

Here are some pictures of us enjoying the new equipment and the buddy bench! Each year group received a large purple bag full of playground toys! 

We are now working on plans for the Queen's Jubilee!