Schools Council Conference 2006

Pupil's Voices!

Members of the School Councils of five primary schools and two secondary schools (one special and one mainstream) jointly attended a one-day conference which was held at the South Sefton City Learning Centre.

The event was planned and co-ordinated by The Partnership, an EiC Action Zone of which all seven schools are members, and facilitated by CENTRA, a local educational training charity.

 

 

They all then attended a brief introductory session in the large conference room. This involved a talk on the importance of School Councils and how they were recognised nationally as a vital part of the organisation of a school.

Pupils then broke into five separate workshops (one for reception/KS1, two for Y3 to Y5 and two for Y6, KS3, 4 and 5.) There were two work-shops for each group with a break in-between – the first covered speaking/listening/co-counselling and the second dealt with anti-bullying strategies (except for the KS1 groups which got involved with designing posters. ) Both sessions were extremely interactive with role play and discussions. During session two, headteachers attended a workshop of their own which covered how best Councils can be used as a vital part of the organisation of a school.

 

Pupils voices from far and wide!

In the afternoon, the two large screens in the conference room came alive and within seconds there was an animated video-conferencing session taking place with Councils of three schools from another part of the County. ‘The Discovery CLC in The Wirral acted as host and its manager facilitated the event from the other side.

 

Topics discussed ranged from “What has been the most effective proposal made by your Council in your school(s) within the last year?” and “How often do you meet as a Council?” to “What is the decision making process in your Council?”, “How do you gather information for discussion at your Council meetings and how do you feed back outcomes to the whole school?” and “Has being on the Council made you feel differently about how your school is run?” The session lasted for 45 minutes and only came to a close because of transport arrangements – it could have gone on for at least another hour!

 

The day ended with the manager of Sefton Education Business Partnership speaking to the pupils about decision making in the work-place and how their current roles would help them become pro-active adults who would be better equipped to contribute positively to the community.