Our School Council

Why do we have a School Council at St Catherine’s?

We believe the school council plays an important role in providing opportunities for our pupils to become partners in their own education and make positive contributions to the school environment and ethos. We aim to accomplish this by allowing children to have a ‘voice’, hearing and valuing their opinions and ideas. This helps to develop pupils’ recognition of themselves as worthwhile individuals with a right to be heard. Through our School Council, we have enabled our pupils to consider how they can play an active role as citizens of our St Catherine’s community with the ability to consider and respect the different opinions of others. We believe that feeling valued helps to develop and promote self-confidence, social skills, responsible behaviour towards each other and towards teachers and adult members of staff.

We use the school council as a vehicle to help develop pupil knowledge, skills and understanding of how to contribute to society as a whole and what it means to be an active citizen. Indeed, we are active fund raisers for local, national and international causes.

 The School Council Representatives

At the start of the school year each year group choose their school council representatives. The role of the school council representative is to represent their year group members at school council meetings.

The Pupil Voice Box/Suggestion Box

In each class / year group there is a pupil voice box/ suggestion box where suggestions for improvement within the school can be placed. These are then discussed, often at length, at our School Council meetings. Sometimes we feel able to make sensible decisions right there and then, and our reps will feedback to their respective classes/ year groups.

The pupil voice box / suggestion box has proved to be a very powerful tool and one that is used with great enthusiasm.

Our School Council helps us all to work together towards a common goal. We are learning how to become more responsible and how to play a positive role in our local and wider community.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 role as citizens
• 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

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
• A responsibility towards the school community and 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

Our School Council aims to prepare our pupils for citizenship by teaching them about roles, rights and responsibilities within the school system.