Tag: class councils

Here’s the third in our series of school council case studies, it’s Westfield Community School!

Key quote:

“It’s critical that children see the process and can see the end product. It’s more than just having a chat, and the children know this. They know the process is important in school. They know the starting point and what they’ve achieved.”

Assistant headteacher

Key benefits to student voice:

Pupils respect staff because it is clear that the opinions, views and ideas of every child are taken seriously and acted upon appropriately.

Transition and connection between phases is improved by older students working every week with younger students.

All new buildings, equipment and schemes have a high chance of success because the whole-school is actively consulted. The best options for all are chosen and there is a sense of excitement and ownership of them.

Top advice

• The critical thing is that projects have a process and that children know the process. See things through to the end, do not give up with any stumbling blocks, bring it back to the school council and the class councils and work through it.

• Do not put anything off limits, it will ruin your credibility. Address everything that is brought up in the most appropriate way.

•  Value every voice, not just those who get elected. So use a structure where the views from the whole class (not just the class rep) are accurately represented to the school council. A strong system of class councils enables this.

•  Be clear about what the school council process is and how it works. Only certain types of pupil will volunteer to take part in something they do not fully understand.

• Keep reviewing your system to make sure everyone is getting heard.

Methods used:

School council and class councils

“The class councils drive the ideas. All the children are involved in everything.”

Assistant headteacher

Class councils form the core of pupil voice at Westfield. They happen every week in every class. Pupils can discuss any issues they like but the focus is always on coming up with solutions that the pupils themselves can carry out rather than just requesting things from staff. These meetings are run by members of the school council, who come from Years 5 and 6. They are supported by the class teacher to ensure that everyone stays reasonably well on track. Every fourth week there is a school council meeting where the pupils representing each class share and co-ordinate views and action from across the school.

“As a class teacher you always think such and such would make a good class councillor, but the children have other ideas, and as children can see the processes, more children are putting themselves forward. We’re clear about the process, so they see that they could do it too.”

Assistant headteacher

Improving representation on the school council for younger children

It had been the case that the school council was made up of members from every year group, but it was felt that this meant that some of the younger children were not being properly represented. Often the class reps from the lower years struggled to remember what they had discussed with their classes and so just gave their personal opinions in school council meetings. It was felt that older children were more able to keep this focus, so the school council was restructured to include just Years 5 and 6.

Each school councillor not only represents her own class but also has responsibility for representing specific classes lower down the school. So whilst younger pupils are not on the school council any more they all have an effective advocate there. They also all have the chance to discuss issues every week in their class, in meetings led primarily by another pupil.

Structures that facilitate action

The school council regularly works directly with the school’s senior leadership team (SLT) and governors. These relationships means they understand some of the possibilities and constraints of running the school. It also reinforces the views of the SLT and governors that pupils’ contributions are practical, mature and important. Furthermore it gives the school council a clear channel for raising key issues in the school with the key people.

To enable them to better deal with the smaller issues the school council requested and got a budget. This allows them to act quickly on ideas brought up in class council meetings so pupils see an immediate connection between them expressing their views and changes in the school.

Pupil-led whole-school consultations

When major changes are happening in the school the school council runs detailed, structured whole-school consultations. These ensure that every pupil is able to play a role in shaping what the school will look like.

Recently this has included what happens in the playground (equipment and activities) and a current consultation is on the ‘the Growing Space’. This is an area of unused land adjacent to the school that the school has acquired as an ‘outdoor classroom’. What will go in to this and what it will look like is being decided by the whole-school. Rather than just rely on each individual class representatives to explain this and discuss it with her class in her own way, which can result in patchy levels of feedback, the school council has designed a process to be run with the whole school. They run an assembly for each of the three phases in the school; then do a presentation in each class council meeting; then collect views from the whole-school before finally collating these views to create a report. This report is presented to the SLT and governors as well as fed back to the whole-school.

“It creates as sense of ownership for students, gives them a sense of achievement and shows what we think of our children, that it’s about what they would like, and they know that, and that’s a real key in terms of the respect the children have for us.”

Assistant headteacher

Putting pupils at the heart of school design

By ensuring that pupils are part of the process of designing the ‘feel’ of the school a great sense of ownership and pride has been developed. This is evidenced both in respect for the building and respect for staff. Pupils worked with a photographer to generate ideas for images for each phase within the school. The children themselves are featured in the images and the school council decided on which ones to use, as well as deciding on materials.

About the school

Westfield Community Primary School is a larger than average-sized school formed in 2005, following the amalgamation of two local primary schools. The percentage of pupils known to be eligible for free school meals is three times the national average. The proportion of pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities is above that usually found. The school population is predominantly White British and there are few pupils at early stages of speaking English as an additional language. The school is also a resourced school for the local authority and offers places to pupils with low-severity autism or speech and language difficulties.

Westfield holds National Healthy Schools Status and the Activemark. It has been identified as a National College Leadership Development School. It also holds the Cabinet Office Award.