School Parliament elections ( formerly known as school council)
As School council facilitator, I have decided to revamp our school council to give it a bigger voice in school so from September we are craeting a School Parliament.
The School Parliament (previously known as the School Council), will consists of Key Stage 1 and 2 representatives who have been voted for by their peers in every class (2 from each year group – maybe more from year 6)
These representatives are in post for a year and meet at least twice a term (but usually more) with a teacher/ TA to discuss different aspects of the running of the school. It is our aim that all key decisions will involve the school Parliament as well as them coming up with their own agenda and focus areas. Every member wears a "School Parliament" badge so they can be recognised by others and they always lead by example.
Once a year, usually at the beginning of the school year, Parliament Members invite teachers to speak with them about their budgets, roles and decision making processes within the school, to gain a better understanding of how our school runs. For example, the Minister for Health and Fitness would speak with Mrs Pratten to investigate the kind of equipment we can buy and the kind of decisions she has to make relating to budget and demand. This meeting would only last about 5 minutes but the Minister would then report back to Parliament about their findings.
This would happen in all areas of the curriculum. Parliamentary roles will include Education, Health and Environment, The Arts, Events and Recreation, Sports, Transport, Technology, British values and community and Welfare and Safety.
Individual classes will regularly debate ( in class chats) any whole school issues that they consider unjust or in need of change and their Parliament representatives will bring these grievances, ideas or queries to our meetings. Occasionally, staff request that the School Parliament discuss preferences for specific things (eg playground markings) once discussed, and answers or solutions are suggested, the School Parliament Teacher facilitator may bring some of these ideas to the attention of Mrs Brown who carefully considers the proposals. All answers are reported back to the Parliament and hopefully resolved. The MP’s then report back to their own classes.
New prospective teaching staff are also interviewed by our School Parliament, and afterwards, express their preferences, supported by constructive reasoning as well as personal opinions.
MP’s are encouraged to have an understanding of the decision making processes involved with the successful running of a happy, healthy Primary School in today’s modern, technological world.
Keeping every citizen happy is not an easy task, nor is seeing things from another person’s viewpoint!
Thus, Parliament members are encouraged to explore rules and established processes and their importance if a democracy is to be maintained. Hopefully, they will learn that their job isn’t always as easy as it looks and that rules and safety are of paramount importance when considering change of any kind.
I am sure there will be many children wanting to apply and they will be asked to apply by preparing a presentation for next Tuesday ( Move up day 1) and then their class will be asked to vote for 2. The 2 with the most votes will be elected and then in September, at our first meeting, they will apply for the various MP roles.
Pupils will be casting their vote at our Polling Booths in the old Library with their class next and we hope to announce the parliament members for each class by the end of the week.
If you have any questions about this, please contact me at school
Mrs Moxham