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.
Posted in: News
We are pleased that the Teaching Citizenship magazine has reviewed our new School Council Handbook for Primary Pupils.
However, we would like to clarify a few points!
This fantastic new handbook is a re-write and re-design of the old School Council Handbook for Primary Pupils. It has been brought up to date with current ideas and refreshed with new sections, illustrations and helpful Morphs!
IT DOES NOT REPLACE THE KS1 AND PRIMARY SCHOOL COUNCIL TOOLKITS.
Our Toolkits are designed for use by Teachers who are setting up and supporting School Councils within their school. These comprehensive books give advice and guidance for both Teacher and Pupil sessions covering ideas such as Circle Time, Charters of Behaviour, Peer Mediation, Writing an Agenda and even music for School Council songs.
The School Council Handbook for Primary Pupils has been designed to be given to each member of the School Council to help them understand and fulfil the important role they have been elected to. It gives advice on such areas as research, fundraising, issues and inclusion. The Handbook is not intended for use as a teaching tool within a citizenship lesson. It is a special Handbook aimed at helping each School Councillor work as part of a team to assist their School Council be the best channel possible for Pupil Voice within their school.
Posted in: News, Resources
We have two Twitter accounts:
SchCouncilForum : For School Councillors, Link Teachers and other interested parties, to pool ideas, news and chat.
SchoolCouncils : School councils turn pupil voice into action and schools into communities. We support pupils, staff and others to create effective, whole school, participation
Posted in: News
