We received a question from a member of Constabulary, which raised a good question that we felt would be relevant to any school in any area of the UK.
Your question to me on Twitter (@schoolcouncils) was “We presently have a project ongoing with our local Comprehensive school to improve community cohesion. We should link in?”
Very strongly, part of what school councils are about is linking to local and other communities. They are encouraged to link to youth councils; town, borough and district councils. Many school councils organise social visits to old folks homes, especially at this time of year. I can’t comment on your local schools but emphatically the answer is yes on this score
Another area for school councils is that of Health and Wellbeing. This includes anti-bullying of the physical or cyber kind. Wellbeing also reaches into transport and whether the children and young people feel safe coming to school and going home. Very much your territory. So emphatically the answer is yes on this score too.
I am not aware of your local conditions, but it seems to me that in some areas there is a need for the healing of rifts between between the police as a whole and young people. If this should apply in your part of the country, I would invite you to think of school councils as an ideal channel into the school community to enable that healing to take place. Again, the answer is emphatically yes.
In the round, therefore, there is nothing to be lost and everything to be gained from police services nationally linking to school councils and from there into the wider school community
Good luck! Let us know how you get on.
