A simple template to keep track of what was decided in a meeting. Just focussing on the essentials.
News, views and ideas
Quick minutes template
Jan 19
A great student voice case study where learners are placed at the heart of the curriculum. Student voice focuses around the design team who help to design all aspects of the school.
An amazing case study on achieving whole-school and inclusive student voice in a primary school. It’s from the research project that we did for the did for the Children’s Commissioner.
A new book, a whole load of free resources and Greg looking lost in Ireland.
Today, Welbourne prefects took over as a director for take over day. I thinked they loved it because it is a big opportunity for them to see how it is to be in someone else’s shoes for a day. Melanie said: “I thought it was brilliant because it was very interactive” Kenoly said: “Oh it [...]
On Friday 11 November, Tottenham-based, social enterprise, involver, will be taken over by pupils from Welbourne Primary School. Four pupils will be made Directors of involver for a day, running the organisation and deciding on its future strategy.
A few ideas on ways you can liven up your school council meetings (or any other meetings) and ensure that everyone gets a say.
Trying to create a short and simple but comprehensive policy for how school and class councils should work in a primary school.
This is a great little session to do at the beginning of the year when you’re trying to figure out what you want your school council (or student voice more broadly) to get involved with.
The new framework for school inspections released by Ofsted today removes all pressure on schools to involve their students in self-evaluation and improving their own community.
When schools are being blamed for not connecting young people with their communities a key tool that helped young people to see that their communities are what they make them, not something that happens to them, has been swept away.
Here’s the first part of our findings from a brilliant research project that we worked on for the Children’s Commissioner. It’s all about best practice in student voice, and here’s a short ‘How to’ guide with as much advice as we could possibly fit onto two pages. Feel free to download and share. You can [...]
Many school councils get stuck just talking about the appearance of the school. Here’s a simple suggestion to ensure that rest of school life gets a look in.
The excellent Pathways Through Participation project has just published its final reports. They’re really worth a read for anyone looking to improve participation in schools. Whilst their focus was on adults – what gets them in to active citizenship, what keeps them involved – the lessons they’ve drawn from it hold true for young people too.
As the new school year starts you might be thinking about how to give student voice in your school the kick up the bum is desperately needs. Last year’s school council was a bit of a washout, wasn’t it? There was a lot of moaning, a fair bit of grumbling, that one idea that didn’t quite come off and then a whole load of prevarication.
If only the kids on the school council weren’t that negative, feckless bunch. It would all have been different if you’d had the school’s elite, the committed, quick-witted, leaders of the student body driving things forward.
So how do we get them involved?
It’s the beginning of the school term. Loads of school council elections are taking place across the country, but many of them aren’t organised as well as they could be. Often this is perfectly understandable; running the election is sometimes thrust upon an unsuspecting teacher, so here’s a complication of the resources we’ve got to [...]
Hello everyone, Welcome back to school. Hope you all had a fun summer! To give you a quick idea of what we’ve been up to….. In between lovely holidays to Loch Ness, Aberdeen, Rugby and France, we’ve been doing lots of work on the Smart School Council Community, a charity we’re setting up and supporting. [...]
I was involved in a short debate on BBC WM’s breakfast show this Monday. I was put up against Nick Seaton from the Campaign for Real Education, who campaigns against progressive education. Have a listen and see what you think: As with any interview like this no one gets the time they want to put [...]
Questions school council interview panels might ask and some advice and guidance on how to deal with them.
How the hell did we get to a position where you can burn down someone’s home and potentially kill them BECAUSE you won’t get caught? Changing the punishment won’t change anything, giving everyone the chance to develop empathy and understanding will.
