PUPIL VOICE
“TELL ME AND I FORGET, TEACH ME AND I MAY REMEMBER, INVOLVE ME AND I LEARN.” BENJAMIN FRANKLIN
At Westbury Park School, we are inspired by the children and the ideas and goals they have for our school, our community and the world around us. In order to give children meaningful opportunities to be responsible, respectful and engage with the school and the wider community, children are encouraged to take on roles that allow them to develop leadership and communication skills, particularly as they reach the end of Key Stage 2.
We have a School Council, led by Mr Bamber and Mr Vaughan and a group of Digital Leaders led by Mr Goode. We also have Wellbeing Champions from Year 1 to Year 6 who meet with Mrs Clark to discuss mental health and wellbeing in and out of school. Older children in Year 6 are also given the opportunity to become Peer Mentors to the younger children, Sports Captains and School Ambassadors. Click below for more information.
SCHOOL COUNCIL
School council is a group of people who discuss opportunities for the school and our community. Two children from Year 3 to Year 6 meet up with the head teacher, Mr Bamber, and Mr Vaughan to talk about what suggestions children have made and how we can improve our school. School counsellors are here to help everyone and anyone who needs them.
Mr Bamber explained what we hope to achieve through school council:
Our School Council aims to ensure our children have:
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A safe, happy and fair learning environment
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A forum to voice their concerns and act upon them
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A structured opportunity to learn problem-solving skills
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An opportunity to take an active role in the organisation of the school
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An opportunity to experience a democratic process
Our School Council should encourage children to develop:
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A sense of ownership over policy and practice
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A consensus over school issues such as behaviour
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A responsibility towards the school community and environment
Our School Council should give children the experience of:
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Planning, organising and monitoring small projects
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Speaking and listening skills
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Debating skills
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Mediation and negotiating skills
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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.
School council are voted in by the members in their class. We run for election and explain to our classes what makes us ideal for the position. We use a democratic system of voting to make sure it is fair and the person is voted in based on their speech and what we think they can bring to the role. Elections are run every year.
There is a display in the corridor of all the school councillors so everyone knows who they are. We are easy to identify because we all wear green badges, so if any child has a problem they can easily notice us and ask us a question if they need to.
At the moment, we are focusing on raising money for good causes. We have done bake sales to raise money and for medical equipment we organised a 'Santa Dash' which raised money for a heart defibrillator. We have also been looking at suggestions for the school, once a week they take in ideas from the suggestion box; they include club ideas, questions and improvements. We have also asked all children in Key Stage 2 to fill in a 'Wellbeing Survey'; this helped us to gather their views and help us to know what to work on.
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 that could be done to improve the school. The school will record School Council Achievements on the school newsletter as and when appropriate.
WHAT IS SCHOOL COUNCIL?
WHO ARE THE SCHOOL COUNCIL?
HOW DO OTHER CHILDREN KNOW ABOUT US?
WHAT ARE WE FOCUSING ON AT THE MOMENT?
GIVING FEEDBACK TO PUPILS
DIGITAL LEADERS
WHAT IS THE ROLE OF A DIGITAL LEADER?
At Westbury Park School, we are passionate about ensuring children are well informed about technology and know how to stay safe on the internet. Our Digital Leaders help to advise their classmates on internet safety. They promote safe use of passwords and monitor the use of chrome books within their class. Digital Leaders are trained by Mr Goode and attend conferences with other local schools to ensure they are knowledgable on the latest technological advances.
WHO ARE THE DIGITAL LEADERS?
The Digital Leaders are led by Mr Goode, our Computing Lead. Each class from Year 3 to Year 6 has one Digital Leader. These members are voted in every year. Pupils with an interest in being a Digital Leader fill in an application form explaining how they show responsibility and an awareness of safety.
HOW DO OTHER CHILDREN KNOW ABOUT US?
We have a display in the main corridor where we have our photographs to show the rest of the school who we are. We also regularly update our classmates during class, Key Stage and whole school assemblies.
Every class knows who their Digital Leader is and knows who to go to if they have a problem online.
WHAT ARE WE FOCUSING ON AT THE MOMENT?
We are currently making a video to promote online safety! We are hoping to release it in line with Internet Safety Day and we will show our peers in assembly.
SCHOOL AMBASSADORS
WHAT IS THE ROLE OF A SCHOOL AMBASSADOR?
We are here to celebrate the amazing Westbury Park School. We help lead prospective parents around our school and show them how wonderful it is. We strongly believe that Westbury Park is the most special place to be and that is the message we try to give adults that come to visit our school.
WHO ARE THE SCHOOL AMBASSADORS?
We are children in Year 6 who are confident, happy and enthusiastic. We have been trained by Mrs Clark to show adults around our school and we are also on hand to help with any other responsibilities as well as supporting our fellow students. Generally, we work in pairs so that there are two of us sharing our different experiences of learning, trips, sport and enrichment throughout our time at Westbury Park.
PEER MENTORS
WHAT IS THE ROLE OF A PEER MENTOR?
The role of a Peer Mentor is to help children at lunch times; we are there for children who need support with their games, are lonely or upset or just who would like to play with older children. We work in both playgrounds and can start new games, join in or lead play or sit and chat whilst helping to problem solve. We are here for everyone!
Peer Mentors are role models to younger children and we take that very seriously. We model positive behaviours and are inclusive to all children. We are kind and smiley and enjoy being with children from all the year groups.
WHO ARE THE PEER MENTORS?
We are children in Year 6 who have been trained by Miss Mann and Mrs Jackson. We were taught games and thought about ways to help children have happy playtimes. We applied for the role and take it very seriously as we know how important playtimes are to everyone.
HOW DO OTHER CHILDREN KNOW ABOUT US?
There is a board in the corridor with our photos on so that everyone knows who we are. When we are in the playground, we wear a bright orange vest so that we are easy to spot. Also, we have been introduced in assembly by Mrs Clark and we have visited the classes to explain what we do and who we are. We have special spots in each playground where children can go if they can't find us and we will find them!
SPORTS LEADERS
WHAT IS THE ROLE OF A SPORTS LEADER?
Sports Leaders are ambassadors for sport in our school. We help out with sports days, set up PE lessons, support lunch time games e.g. football in the nets and lead warm ups in our own PE lessons. We might also help with leading house competitions for other year groups too. We also have meetings once a term so that we can discuss PE competitions and think about what drills we can do. We also consider how we can improve sport at Westbury Park as a team. We are also very active in sports competitions for our own age group.
WELLBEING CHAMPIONS
WHAT IS THE ROLE OF A WELLBEING CHAMPION?
The role of a Wellbeing Champion is to promote wellness and happiness at Westbury Park School; we are there to welcome new children and we present new ideas to our class for example wellness Bingo and ideas for mindfulness. We work together with Mrs Clark to think about our mental wellbeing and kindness- we like to introduce new ideas to school. We are voted as Wellbeing Champions by our classmates and, in return, we always look out for them and other children in the school.
WHO ARE THE WELLBEING CHAMPIONS?
We are children from every year group- two from each class. We work closely with Mrs Clark but other teachers often ask us to help promote ideas. We try to model kindness and encourage listening to each other.
HOW DO OTHER CHILDREN KNOW ABOUT US?
There is a board in the corridor with our photos on so that everyone knows who we are. Also, we have been introduced in assembly by Mrs Clark and we have badges to wear that show others who we are.