What is a School Council?
At Liden Academy our School Council is a highly valued group of children who represent the voice and opinions of all the children within our school. The Council is made up of children from across the school. Through our School Council we aim to develop young leadership skills, whilst supporting student democracy. Most importantly, our strong team of councillors aim to promote the well-being of the children within our inclusive school.
How does the School Council run?
The School Council meet fortnightly to plan their class sessions, which they then go on to deliver the following week with their Class Councillor. These sessions run at the same time for both KS1 and KS2. The theme changes every half term and its stimulus can depend on local/national current affairs, or events happening within the school. It is also common practice for the School Councillors to choose a theme, which tends to be based on some of the requests raised by the children from the class that they represent.
Within the planning sessions the Councillors have the opportunity to share their views and ideas with each other in order for them to plan activities for the age range they are working with. This creative and innovative group strive to deliver fun and exciting sessions in an environment that allows all the children to feel comfortable and willing to express their opinions.
What happens next?
The feedback the School Councillors bring to the follow up planning sessions is crucial to the on-going success of the system. The team summarise the opinions and views shared by their classes and then this is fed back to the Senior Leadership Team. The children’s ideas are discussed and feedback is given to each class via their School Council representative. Likewise, the School Council is responsible for the consultation process between the school management team and all the children regarding some important decisions that affect them directly. Ideas such as redesigning the school uniform and logo, the refurbishment of the children’s toilets, being involved in the interview process of many staff at Liden Academy and the playground redevelopments have been shared and developed collaboratively with the staff and children through the School Council.
Peer4Support
Each year, a special group of Year 5 and Year 6 children are trained by our Pastoral Lead to become Peer4Support mentors. These children will learn about the ‘5 ways to wellbeing’ and will share these important strategies with younger children in our school, to promote positive mental health. Each mentor will develop their own skills, in areas such as sport, art or conversation, to engage their younger mentees and to act as positive role models. Look out for our Peer4Support mentors on the playground!
