Children have the right to say what they think should happen when adults are making decisions that affect them, and to have their opinions taken into account.
(The Convention on the Rights of the Child, Article 12)
At Aintree Davenhill, our school council has a clear mission: ‘Working on behalf of our fellow pupils to improve our school and community’ and ensuring ‘Excellence and Enjoyment’ for all.
Aims
The aims of the Aintree Davenhill Primary School Council are to ensure that every pupil has:
a voice
a safe, happy, fair learning environment
a forum to voice their concerns and act upon them
an opportunity to take an active part in the management of the school, and to help make school a better place
a sense of ownership over decisions which are made about them
a sense of belonging to our school community
Councillors
Our school council is made up of one elected councillor from each class from Year 1-6 along with the Head Boys and Head Girls. We ensure that all students have the opportunity to take part and are properly represented by encouraging a fair election process where children can stand for election regardless of ethnicity, gender, learning needs, disability, academic achievement or family background.
We ensure that the interests of all pupils are properly represented by council members through:
Class discussion before and after meetings
Class councillors encouraging members of their class to share their thoughts and ideas
Class councillors voicing those thoughts and ideas at school council meetings
Elections for School Council
School council elections take place during the last week of September. Before the elections take place, all children have the opportunity to learn about the role and responsibilities of school councillors. The election process is as follows:
1. Class teachers encourage a fair voting process within their own class.
2. Previous school councillors speak to the class about their own experiences of the school council.
3. Once fully informed of the roles and responsibilities, pupils are encouraged to stand for election, stating their reasons for standing and the qualities that they believe would make them a good school councillor.
4. All pupils have the opportunity to stand. Under no circumstances will any child be excluded from the election process.
5. Class members are given a voting slip and write down the name of the child they wish to be elected as school councillor for the class. Votes should be kept anonymous and should not be discussed.
6. The voting slips are collected by the class teacher and counted.
7. The child with the most votes will be the school councillor for the class. The child with the next highest number of votes will be the deputy school councillor for the class. In the event of a draw, the vote will be repeated for the two children who have drawn.
8. Elected school councillors will be announced by the class teacher and names will be sent to Miss Clay and confirmed in the school newsletter and in celebration assemblies.
Removal/Resignation of School Councillors
We believe that being a member of the school council is a privilege, not a right. A school councillor is there to represent the voice of children in their class/school.
Any member can be removed from the council if they are found not to be fairly representing the needs of others or if they miss more than 3 consecutive meetings. If a member does not demonstrate our school values, they will be given a warning by the chairperson. If this continues, the councillor will be removed from school council and the deputy councillor for their class will take their place. The headteacher also has the right to remove any child, where behaviour and/or actions have been deemed unacceptable. If any member of the council wants to resign, we ask them to speak to the chairperson or another member of the council who may be able to find a solution to the issues. If no resolution is found, then resignation will be accepted by the chairperson.
Meetings
Our school council meets with Miss Clay and Mrs Williams on a Friday afternoon (dates agreed in advance) in the meeting room at 2:20pm. In order to give every child in this school a voice, all members are expected to attend unless they have given valid apologies beforehand, e.g. sickness. There should be a designated time in each class where the class councillor is able to share details from school council meetings and take thoughts and ideas from their class to feed back to the school council.
Senior School Council Roles
Councillors will have the opportunity to take one of the following roles:
Chairperson – leads all school council meetings (after a discussion about the agenda with Miss Clay) and makes important decisions about the focus of the school council
Secretary – takes the minutes of each meeting and share minutes and other information with the wider school community
Treasurer – keeps track of school council budget and finances working alongside Mrs Williams
Boundaries
School council members are explicitly informed of the boundaries of their role at the first school council meeting. Discussions must always remain appropriate and focused on school matters, and are always supervised by Miss Clay and Mrs Williams. School council members fully understand what actions they can and cannot take as a council, and that all council activity should be approved by Miss Clay and/or Mrs Williams.
Finances
Any money raised by the school council is kept, monitored and overseen by the treasurer and Mrs Williams as the School Business Manager. The school council retains all monies raised for all events it organises and has the independence to spend this, or donate the money to a specified charity. When planning events, all spending must be costed and a plan delivered to the Mrs Williams for approval. It is the intention of the school council to raise money for improvements that will benefit all of the children within the school and to help members of our community, city, country and world.