It was a pleasure to welcome Councillor Taylor and Councillor Pitchley to see our School Council finalists present their final speech to their class mates, before each class went to the polling station to vote for their two candidates of choice!

The polling station was ran by our Y6 pupils who did an incredible job at the roles involved with registering pupils to vote and counting up the ballot papers under the guidance of Mr Thomas from the local election team.

It was a fantastic opportunity to see democracy in action and how it would be ran in a real life election. Councillor Taylor even made our youngest children feel comfortable by sitting up at the front with them.

A huge well done to all the children who took part as they were incredible and congratulations to the School Councillor winners for the year 2022 to 2023!

At Aughton Junior Academy we have are proud to have pupil representatives that take part in Class and School Council meetings.  These councils are in place so that pupils have a voice and are involved in decisions about the school that affect them.  Through Class Council all pupils have the opportunity to raise issues, share ideas and take part in discussions that involve all of their classmates in reaching a democratic solution.  Wider issues that arise at Class Council are discussed further at School Council, this ensures that as many pupil voices as possible are heard.  Pupils at Aughton Junior Academy know that this is their school and their thoughts and ideas matter.

Class council officials are nominated and then voted in by their class mates, the elections should be held in Autumn 1 of the academic year. Miss Rathbone and Miss Fairham have teamed up to help coach, model and lead the school council meetings.

Our School Council members for the academic year 2020-2021 are:

Y1- William & Oliver

Y2- Lexie & Abdulsamee

Y3- Daisy & Zack

Y4- Sonny & Alice

Y5- Leo & Heidi

Y6- Ruby & Corey

 

Our School Council aims to ensure our children have:

• A safe, happy and fair learning environment
• A forum to voice their concerns and act upon them
• A structured opportunity to learn problem-solving skills
• An opportunity to take an active role in the organisation of the school
• An opportunity to experience a democratic process

Our School Council should encourage pupils to develop:

• A sense of ownership over policy and practice
• A consensus over school issues such as behaviour
• A responsibility towards the school community and environment

Our School Council should give pupils the experience of:

• Planning, organising and monitoring small projects
• Speaking and listening skills
• Debating skills
• Mediation and negotiating skills
• Basic budgeting and managing money

Our School Council aims to prepare our pupils for citizenship by teaching them about roles, rights and responsibilities within the school system.

Organisation:

• Two representatives from each KS2 class
• Two representative from each KS1 class
• Link Teacher
• An agenda is to be organised by the link teacher
• Minutes will be recorded by the children

It is a very responsible job, and School Council Members will share information with their class, and get ideas and views from pupils by talking.

Running the School Council Meetings:

The School Councillors will hold their class council meetings every 2 weeks with their class. Currently due to the COVID 19 restrictions, we are unable to meet as school council face to face. To resolve this, school councillors meet with Miss Fairham & Miss Rathbone to feedback from their class council meetings. After discussion they then feedback virtually through a video link which is shared with the school councillors before their next meeting. 

Giving Feedback to Pupils:

Following the School Council Meeting, School Council Members speak to their class to let them know what is going on and tell the class about the issues being discussed and what is happening next.  This will encourage more children to contribute to further meetings, share worries and let members know the things which could be done to improve the school.  The school will record School Council Achievements on the school newsletter as and when appropriate.

Last year we…

Last year school council worked very hard to get things up and running. So far they have…

• Raised money for a music box
• Created a school song and dance
• Made a worry box for any children that have any worries
• They create, organised and delivered assemblies to reinforce positive behaviour, eliminate rough play and an assembly on embracing all
• Secured funding for a friendship bench, where children can sit if they want to find a friend to play with.