On Wednesday, 10th June, I went to a conference hosted by the Ashden Awards at the Imperial College, London. The Ashden Awards for sustainable energy are to reward those making advances in local solutions to climate change. The purpose of the day was to give the Ashden Awards finalists the opportunity to talk about their [...]
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Ashden Awards
Jun 12
I read this article about Dundee City Council banning a primary school having a cake sale due to health and safety and couldn’t believe it. Read the story here We have also just put a poll on our website asking you what you think the best ways to raise money are, a cake sale is [...]
Hansard Society are holding a forum to discuss what contribution should under-18s be making to politics? Speakers at this event will include Jo Swinson MP, Emily Benn PPC and a member of the UK Youth Parliament. There will also be the opportunity for an open discussion with the audience. The event is to be held, [...]
This guy contacted us about training last week, and I though his role was really interesting, so I asked him to write a blog post for us. Here it is. Vicky —————————– Stepping back four years ago at Hirst High School Technology College, it would certainly seem like a different school. With a planned student [...]
Over the last couple of weeks whilst searching the internet for news on school councils I have noticed a number of stories celebrating the positive praise school councils are receiving through their inspection reports. I have picked out a few examples to share with you. Shilbottle First School celebrated receiving Ofsted’s outstanding rating for the [...]
I was reading through Gordon Brown’s big speech on education yesterday: http://www.number10.gov.uk/Page19209 (I was a little surprised at the lack of full stops, but that’s not the main point of this post) I really liked the main thrust of his argument: that we get out of recession by making education better and fairer rather than [...]
Just been working on two exciting things, but very different things. I’ve been proof-reading our first resource for pupil voice activities in an early years setting. It’s mainly about self-expression and empathy and I think it’s really nice set of lesson plans. It’s quite exciting for me both because it’s the first thing I’ve worked [...]
Generation Gap!
Apr 22
The government has pledged £5.5million to help close the widening generation gap. Read the Full Story Here We want to hear what you think go to our Facebook page and join in the discussion. Facebook Daisy
Sleazy school councils
Apr 17
All of the sleazy stories about our politicians that have been coming out recently have got me thinking about whether there’s anything school councils can learn from this. So let’s have a look at what we’ve got: Smear campaigns Missuse of expenses It’s easy to see in the first video how an announcement about policy [...]
Super-School Council
Apr 16
I’m not sure that there is anything this school council isn’t doing. It seems like the whole school is involved with different project as well which is brilliant. http://www.perthshireadvertiser.co.uk/perthshire-news/school-reports/2009/04/14/grantully-school-council-have-a-busy-schedule-73103-23377045/ Daisy Posted via email from schoolcouncils’s posterous
Apparently not enough young people are enjoying their natural surroundings and we think that school councils can help get pupils involved with nature. Natural England is an independent public body whose purpose is to protect and improve England’s natural environment and encourage people to enjoy and get involved in their surroundings and they recently conducted [...]
Recently, I have found a lot of stories about members of local government visiting school councils, this is just one of them. http://www.nwipp-newspapers.com/fh/free/294158572456177.php I think they must all be looking for tips. Daisy
Is behaviour getting worse in schools? Do pupils treat their teachers and classmates with respect? Research published by ATL today suggests not, but school councils can provide learning on empathy, responsibility and improve relationships throughout the school. The Association of Teachers and Lecturers (ATL) has found that a nearly a quarter of school and college [...]
A new head teacher has started at Douglas Academy, Milngavie and he has highlighted the importance pupil voice is going to play under his reign. He even says that “pupils’ voice is as important as learning and teaching in the school.” Full Story Daisy
Results of a survey conducted by The Edge Foundation of 1,199 Teachers and 1,130 parents were released this week revealing a need to raise awareness and promote the value of vocational learning. A massive 56% of teachers said that their knowledge of vocational learning was ‘poor’. The Edge Foundation claimed this to be “a real [...]
http://sn.im/sedis [www_dcsf_gov_uk] Ed Balls is looking into how independent faith schools are meeting the requirements for them to provide, spiritual, social and emotional development for their pupils. Will they look into how many have school councils or other methods of whole-school pupil voice (still trying to find out what these are)? It’d be very interesting [...]
I thought this was interesting regarding the primary review stating that they planned to have a single enrollment date for all children. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/primaryeducation/4973031/Extremely-premature-children-more-likely-to-struggle-at-school.html
More Young Mayors
Mar 12
http://www.communities.gov.uk/news/corporate/1172711 I know that we have had some contact with the Lewisham Young mayor and I think that it is really good that more people will get the opportunity to get involved. Also, I think it’s great that the importance of the views of young people are really being noticed and appreciated. Daisy
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MNqgXbI1_o8 A really excellent, academic summary of how the process of actively engaging wih the world could/will enable us to tackle challenges like climate change. Asher (but Jess G sent me this link originally)
Some of the things that have been happening here are: Working with Estyn to incorporate the National Participation Standards in the new Common Inspection Framework post 2010 Working with other policy departments here to mainstream pupil participation into key policy areas – e.g. the School Effectiveness Framework, 14 – 19 Learning Pathways and Quality Effectiveness [...]
