InvolverI knocked this up to use in our training sessions, when we don’t need to go back over old minutes, etc. but it actually works pretty well as a simple way to get down the most important information in any meeting: the actions.
It just lays out simply for everyone what decision was taken and WHO needs to do WHAT by WHEN.
Download the editable Word version: [download id=”241″]
Download the PDF version: [download id=”242″]
Here’s the second in our series of student voice case studies for the Children’s Commissioner.
“Everything we do is about improving the opportunities and life chances of young people. If they can see that they are helping to design their learning they are more engaged.”
Community Director
Engagement has improved which has meant behaviour and attainment have too. This has shifted students away from a pattern of disaffection with educational experience inherited from their families.
Students love the responsibility membership of the Design Team offers them and rise to the challenge.
A small number of sixth-form students are employed on a part-time basis to provide classroom support in Performing Arts and PE.
“If it’s important, and these things are, we just find the time. This is part of their learning.”
Community Director
The Design Team is a group drawn from across the school, anybody can be on it. They are the focal point for student voice within the school. They help to design all aspects of the school, from the logo and uniform to aspects of the curriculum.
Students volunteer themselves and can join and leave at any time. Whilst this creates some fluidity in the membership, there is also a core group of students who have specific roles. They are the heart of the Design Team and ensure that it keeps running.
The main method they use to ensure they represent the whole of the school is maintaining the diversity of their Design Team. They also use the daily 30-minute ‘well-being sessions’ in their year groups to discuss issues which are taken back to the main Design Team meetings. For more formal information gathering from the whole-school or specific year groups they create surveys in SharePoint which can be pushed to all students through the VLE. They also use a team of ‘social reporters’- Y10 students trained to use digital media to report on social issues – to examine issues and create debate. These stories often reflect external community issues and bridge the school-community interface.
A group of volunteers have been trained jointly with students from Tunbridge Girls Grammar School to provide peer support on both a social and emotional level to other students in the school. This focused on active listening and helping people to access the appropriate support structures in school for more serious issues.
Using students in this role “bridges the gap between staff and students”; those students who feel more comfortable talking to staff can and those who would rather talk to a peer can do that. A side-benefit is that it is also a very cost-effective way of improving the ratio of ‘supporters’ to those needing support. Having ‘more ears to the ground’ has enabled the school to deal with issues more quickly, before they escalate. The school’s external assessors have noted the improvement in engagement and behaviour.
The school felt that for their students to reach their academic potential they needed to understand what good learning and teaching is. The school uses observation as a regular, ongoing part of staff CPD (continuous professional development). It was felt that getting feedback from students as well as peers and managers gave everyone a better picture. So the scheme is used to give both students and staff a greater understanding of how learning is happening.
This was introduced gradually, but all staff are expected to participate. Students volunteer and are trained in observation and debriefing by the vice-principal, who is also an Ofsted inspector. Whilst all involved so far have found it to be beneficial and enjoyable the scheme is monitored and evaluated to improve development.
It is now school policy that all teaching and pastoral appointments will involve a student interview panel. The students work with the vice-principal and the human resources manager to discuss questions and themes. The students then interview prospective candidates with a member of staff present who does not intervene. The student panel then gives feedback to the full appointments panel.
“It’s the best part of the process. Students are major (I don’t like the word, but) stakeholders. They have insights into things we may not pick up on. It’s about collective responsibility.”
Community Director
Sixth formers studying Sports or Performing Arts Studies are given the opportunity to become sports leaders and performing arts leaders. They are then able to help out in the classes of students lower down the school. This has huge benefits for all involved, raising self-esteem, improving aspirations and attainment. It means that GCSE students can get advice from people who have recently achieved the qualification themselves, and benefit from the greater number of people there to support them. Those taking on the leadership roles further develop their sense of responsibility and understanding of learning and teaching.
Another important benefit the school has found is using these leaders as auxiliary staff to assist with after-school activities and hires of the school facilities by external organisations and individuals. This allows the school to employ these leaders for a few hours a week, which is very helpful in keeping them in education, especially since the Education Maintenance Allowance (EMA) is no longer available to them. They also provide a useful service to the school in this way and get real work experience.
The school also uses these sports and performing arts leaders to improve their relationship with the local primary schools. Along with staff from New Line Learning Academy they go out to run sports, dance and drama activities for the primary pupils.
New Line Learning Academy is one of two academies run by the Future Schools Trust. New Line Learning and
Cornwallis Academies share a governing body and an executive principal, but each is led on a day-to-day basis by a head of school. The academy has specialisms in business and enterprise and in vocational studies. The school moved in to a brand new building in September 2010.
The academy accepts students of all abilities although it operates in a selective area. It is smaller than the average secondary school. Most of the students are of White British heritage, with a small number from a range of minority ethnic groups. Some of these students are at the early stages of learning English. The proportion of students known to be eligible for a free school meal is double the national average and over half have special educational needs or a disability. Students’ difficulties mainly relate to their learning or behaviour. The academy’s roll includes a small number of looked after children.
Involver conducted these case studies for the Office of the Children’s Commissioner in 2011, as part of a project to encourage schools to involve their students in decision making
Here’s the first in our great school council and student voice case studies that we did for the Children’s Commissioner.
It’s from Wroxham School in Potters Bar, Hertfordshire. Great stuff!
What the teachers had in common were the principles of:
- Trust – that we trusted children and that the children felt that they could trust us;
- A sense of co-agency – so not only was it important that you listen to the child, but that the child listen to you, that together you can take something much further forward than if you were just in a passive mode, listening:
- The ethic of everybody – ie that it’s not just the people that are easy to engage that matter, it’s everybody.
Headteacher, Wroxham School
The school was in special measures, it was turned around not by a headteacher telling everyone what to do, but by creating a culture where everyone is listened to and is asking the question ‘how could we improve?’
Students are eloquent and keen to talk about their learning, when they join secondary school they perform well because they understand how to learn and are eager to do so.
Everything the school does is about including the whole-school community in decision-making and getting everyone to work out ‘the answers’ together. Efforts are made in the staff team as well as with students to ensure that everyone feels equally able to contribute. The hierarchy is minimal so democracy can be seen as a real choice: it is worth saying something because you have as much chance to be listened to as everyone else. In this way democracy is not something that fits uneasily (or pretends to fit) within the strict hierarchy of the school.
Another aspect of this is the school’s refusal to give out grades or stream its pupils. It is seen to be incompatible with a view that everyone and their opinions are equally valued. Instead, an approach of co-construction and co-agency is fostered, where staff and pupils work together to understand how learning can best happen for each child.
The circle groups led by Year 6 pupils demonstrate the whole-school democracy approach. Each circle group will have pupils of all ages involved as well as adults, who take part as equal members. The Year 6 pupils have been given the leadership role rather than the member of staff. This helps to ensure that the views that come from these groups are authentically from the pupils, not mediated by staff. That is not to say staff cannot have an input, but they are there as participants – participants with different levels of experience and knowledge – they are not controlling the discussions.
These meetings follow a standard format to give those running them confidence that they can do it. An agenda is worked out across the whole-school that all of the circle groups follow. To begin each meeting the Year 6 leaders run a game and share news about what has been happening across the school. They then discuss the agenda that has been agreed. This has built mutual understanding across the age ranges in the school and makes the older children more tolerant and aware of the needs and wants of the younger children.
Having these meetings weekly means that the younger pupils quickly become used to them and find their voices. It also ensures that most issues are small ones; issues are spotted early and ‘nipped in the bud’.
In place of teachers grading pupils, students are expected to self-evaluate. This gives them a much greater sense of what they are learning, how they are learning and what they would like to improve upon. The headteacher says it has created a culture where is it “cool to challenge yourself”. As there is no judgement of ‘failure’ there is trust between pupils and between pupils and staff. Pupils can choose to redo things to challenge themselves further and learn more.
Students are given reminders of the topics they have covered and asked to write down what they learned (their ‘successes’) and what they struggled with (their ‘challenges’). Younger children are buddied with older ones who type up the reports for them. They can add photographs and drawings to demonstrate their learning. This information is then shared and discussed with the teacher who responds to the points made by the pupil and adds in any other successes or challenges she feels the pupil has overlooked. There is a meaningful dialogue between pupil and teacher, which creates a meaningful dialogue between pupil and parent about learning. All of this is done without grading or putting the pupil down, so pupils can fully understand where they are succeeding and what they can do to improve.
Parents evenings run in a way that supports this process. Pupils create a short presentation for their parents about what they have been doing, their successes and challenges. They present this to their parents and their teacher; the headteacher sits in, makes notes and contributes. They can then discuss this all together and revisit what was discussed at previous meetings. In this way everyone is kept up to date with progress and they actually understand what has been going on in the classroom. Furthermore the child has ownership over her own learning and takes responsibility for her successes and sees the challenges as just that, rather than failings.
“Children talk comprehensively and passionately about their own learning.”
Headteacher
“Even the curriculum here [is influenced by students]. They give us all the ideas of what they want to learn about. They’re just so much more engaged.”
Year 5 Teacher
Having rigorous structures of evaluation and monitoring that are not based on standardised grades or tests creates the freedom for pupils and classroom staff to make important decisions about the curriculum. It allows classes to respond to sudden interests of the children, maybe sparked by current world or local events – so the week after the March 2011 tsunami in Japan a Year 5 class was studying earthquakes and tsunamis at the request of the pupils.
Topics are discussed with pupils and their areas of interest form the key areas of study for the scheme.
The Wroxham School is average in size. It is popular and heavily oversubscribed. The majority of pupils are White British although there are pupils from a wide range of ethnic heritage. English is an additional language for a few pupils. The proportion of pupils with learning difficulties and/or disabilities is below average as is the proportion of pupils with statements detailing their educational needs. The number of pupils eligible for free school meals is below average.
Fewer pupils join or leave the school throughout the school year than is generally seen. The Early Years Foundation Stage includes a nursery, which operates a flexible provision. Attainment on entry to the nursery draws on a full range of abilities but overall is generally typical for this age of children. The school has gained national and international recognition for aspects of its work. It has gained awards for Investors in People and Financial Management in schools. It has also been awarded Healthy School status. The school provides a breakfast and after school club.
Involver conducted these case studies for the Office of the Children’s Commissioner in 2011, as part of a project to encourage schools to involve their students in decision making
Very often there’s just one member of staff in each school with responsibility for student voice and the school council (ideally it should be part of everyone’s role) so it can feel like you’re a bit unsupported. We’d like to set up some regular free events around London to get school council co-ordinators together to share ideas, resources (and tales of woe).
It’ll be something informal, Teachmeet-style, where we’d like to hear from anyone who is doing anything interesting in their school, or who is facing a particular challenge. We’ll be on hand to offer a school council surgery and we’ll see how it develops.
If you think you might be interested, fill out the form below:
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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 was the best day ever”
Martell said:
“This day could never get better”
Austina said:
“IT WAS THE BEST DAY EVER!!!!!! COULDN’T GET BETTER”
By your prefect Martell, Age 11
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Thanks Martell, great blog and video!
It was a really useful day for us too. As a result of the pupils’ help, we’ve improved the programme for a forthcoming school council event, will do a new student voice quiz, and have lots of new contacts in Haringey schools.
Here’s some more snaps from the day. Thanks to Michael Antoniou for taking them, the students for coming in, and the Children’s Commissioner for organising such an important project.
