Pupil's Voice
Pupil's Voice
Here at St George's, we believe that our children are the most important people and we endeavour to give ALL children lots of opportunities to share their thoughts and opinions and play an active role in the decisions that affect their learning and well-being.
We have lots of ways that the children can do this formally, such as through the school council, learning detectives, worship team, well-being champions pupil questionnaires and we are just to publish our very own school newspaper written by the children. However we also want to create an ethos that allows the children to regularly share their opinions in an informal way, in class and also to Mrs Skirving. Mrs Skirving's door is always open to children (and staff!).
What is Pupil Voice?
Pupil voice (or pupil participation) is about developing a culture in schools where ALL children and young people have a voice and the opportunity to play an active role in decisions that affect their learning and well-being.
Why do we need it?
The reasons for this greater focus on student voice or pupil participation relate to claims that greater individual and collective involvement and engagement by pupils in their own learning and in the life of their school communities not only ensures that children and young people’s internationally recognised rights are respected but also supports other important aspects of their physical, emotional, social and educational development.
Early work on pupil participation and student voice focused for the most part on developing more active engagement by pupils in their own learning and this has continued to be an important strand of educational policy where there was a recognition that effective approaches to enhancing pupils’ levels of educational progress and attainment depended upon meaningful and structured engagement by pupils in their own learning.
Why develop Pupil’s Voice?
- Pupils are the key stakeholders in education.
- The quality of learning and the learning environment experienced by them in schools is of vital importance to their well-being, development and educational attainment.
- It is therefore crucial that pupil voice is heard in the shaping and developing of the services they receive in school. Developing pupil voice also enables children and young people to become active and articulate citizens now - working alongside adults to improve their community.
Developing more effective pupil participation can lead to:
- Improved pupil engagement, well-being, behaviour and learning;
- Better pupil - staff and pupil-pupil relationships;
- Better whole-school policies and procedures, based on the real needs of pupils;
- More inclusive communities, where all pupils are encouraged and supported to participate, not just those who are most confident and articulate.
Ways to Encourage Pupil Voice:
Pupil voice should happen in a variety of ways and at different levels of school life. Some of these are:
- As part of teaching and learning,
- Peer coaching and mentoring;
- Children being involved in their own assessment and target setting.
- Consultation mechanisms such as questionnaires, surveys, circle-time, focus groups, and suggestion boxes.
- Participatory and representative groups such as the school council, eco-committee, healthy schools and peer mentors;
- Learner involvement with the governing body, and in staff appointments;
- Learner involvement in planning, reviewing and implementing policies and procedures, including the school development plan;
- Pupil evaluation of the quality of teaching and learning, particularly through the use of lesson observations
Pupil Voice at St George's
Children are actively involved in reviewing their targets and setting new ones.
- Weekly PSHE Lesson including circle time
- Play leaders
- Subject Ambassadors
- Pupil Interviews
- School Council
- School Newspaper
Worship Team
The Collective Worship Team are a very important part of our pupil voice at the school and consist of members from across They apply each year for this role and come together to discuss worship around the school alongside our Head Teacher, Mrs Skirving. t is their job to help people understand what God means to us as Christians, involve everyone in activities during Collective Worship
Regular meetings allow for the Worship team to have the opportunity to reflect together, to monitor and evaluate current practice in Collective Worship and to suggest new ideas for Worship across the school in a relaxed and open way. By doing this, the children have a vital role in helping to improve our Collective Worship and other areas of Christian distinctiveness around our school.
The Worship Team are dedicated to want to wanting the best for our school community where they put the needs of others first and make a difference, following in the footsteps of Jesus.
School Council
The main aim of our school council is to make St George's Church of England Academy a better place. We want to do this by giving the children the opportunity to have their thoughts, feelings and opinions heard and know that they count!
What skills should a good school councilor have?
Every few weeks we have a school council meeting. Mrs. Ward sets an agenda with any whole school issues she would like our thoughts on and also any issues that we have raised in our previous meeting. At the end of each meeting we are also set a question to take back to our class and we feed this back at the next meeting.
The school councillors have a very important role as it is their responsibility to feedback to their class any decisions that we have made in the meetings, ask them questions to ensure we have everyone's opinions on the issues we discuss and also to be there to listen to the views at their class at informal times.
The school council are also responsible for a lot of changes that we make in school, these are some of the changes we have already made or are making:
The Children’s Ethos
Written by the School Council
The School Councillors met with their local councillor, Colin Pease last week.
School Newspaper - TALK Of MSG
We have are about to launch our very own School Newspaper entitled "Talk of MSG!" We are hoping that our very first edition will be ready for Easter! We are starting small and gradually hoping to run as an after school club next year for any child in KS2. The children at the moment are busy producing news items that interest them and also that they think other people should know about our school.
Here are some things that may be appearing in future editions:
- Meet the journalists
- A day in the life of
- Clubs at St Georges
- Job of a play leader
- Trips we have been on
- Fun facts on all of the topics we have done this term
- School Council - an insiders story!
- Meet the staff!
If you would like to write your own article about something in your school then come and see Mrs Taylor.
Subject Ambassadors - Introducing September 2024
Our applications will open for our new Subject Ambassadors for 2024/2025 in September 2024. These roles are only open to year 5 and there are 13 places to be filled. Good Luck !!!!
What is a Subject Ambassador?
A child from Year 5 has a designated subject area and works closely with the lead of this subject area to ensure that all of the children in St George's have the opportunity to achieve in all subject areas.
We also work together to ensure that Spiritual, Moral, Social and Cultural development takes place in all subject areas, supporting our subject leaders with things such as learning walks, observations and pupil interviews etc.
Mrs Taylor manage the Subject Ambassadors and helps us to link with the Subject Leaders.
We will have regular meetings to review what has been going on in our subject areas and to decide what are next steps are! also helps us to link with the Governors, who have a subject responsibility.
By working together all of us are aiming to improve the standards and raise the levels of attainment and progress at St George's School.
