School Council
Welcome to Ashbury Meadow Primary School's School Council homepage.
We hope this page helps you learn lots about who we are, what we do, and what we stand for.
So what is a School Council?
A School Council is a representative group of students who have been proposed and elected by their peers to express their views and raise issues with the Teachers, Senior Managers and Governors of their school. A School Council can also propose and take forward initiatives and projects on behalf of their peers.
Our School Council is made up of 8 representatives from years 3-6. At the start of the Autumn term this year, the prospective candidates prepared a speech for their classmates, and then a vote took place. If they wish, children can remain on the School Council for a maximum of two years. However, after that period they must stand down and allow another child to join.
Once Councillors have been elected, they have to liaise between their own classes and report back to the full School Council in our weekly meetings. Two of the School Councillors will lead the meetings, acting as Chairperson and Secretary respectively. The role of the Chairperson is to make sure that meetings run effectively and within the ground rules of the meeting, whereas the Secretary keeps track of what has been talked about and what decisions have been made. During these meetings, suggestions and ideas are discussed and then the group decides which items should be written into the action plan and what the next steps are. Members should then lead Class Council meetings every Monday to generate ideas and feedback.
What are our beliefs?
The School Council works to promote the six core values of Ashbury Meadow Primary School:
·Think before you speak, think before you act.
· Take care of yourself, each other and our school.
· Keep hands, feet and objects to yourself.
· Follow instructions first time.
· Be kind and friendly.
· Walk around school quietly.
We also believe that the school council helps children:
. Enjoy and feel empowered by their education
. Feel that their school responds to their needs and views
. Have the opportunity to let adults know their feelings and opinions about things that affect them
. Have a say about decisions, and to play an active role in making their school a better place
. Develop life skills through participation
Our focuses for this year.
In September, the children have chosen their new School Council representatives and our work has begun.
In October, the School Councillors decided that mental health is a topic they would like to explore, therefore we created a special assembly and presented it to the whole school.
Ashbury Meadow is a Nurturing School and throughout the year, School Council worked on each of its 6 principles.
In November and December, we concentrated on the issue of bullying. We conducted Pupil’s Voice throughout the school and shared our findings with the children.
We explored the terminology, types of bullying, the effect it has on the victims and what to do, if you are bullied. After taking part in Primary School Voicebox, School Council created a special assembly to help the children understand the problem better.
In January, as a response to children’s suggestions, a Kindness Calendar was designed. The purpose of it was to spread more kindness and positivity throughout our school – one kind deed can make a big difference!
In February, one of our amazing School Councilor (Saad) suggested we do some fundraising. We decided to support Children’s Mental Health Awareness Week and Ashbury Meadow raised over £400 for Manchester Children’s Hospital. We raised over £400! We also wanted to spread awareness on LGBT+, so we shared “Words Can Hurt” assembly to celebrate the LGBT+ Awareness Month.
At the beginning of March, we celebrated International Women’s Day which then led us to Positive Thinking.
In April, School Council thought about more ways to spread positivity around our school and came up with an idea. The children have chosen five words that are meaningful and can have significant impact on the lives of those using the values behind them. The children from classes 3,4,5 and 6 created beautiful pieces of work that were inspired by “Positive Mindset” and Hard Work” themes (you can see the displayed around the school).
In May, School Council started a little project called a “Thank You Card”. We designed small cards, which the children could just pick up and write a lovely thank you messages to their friends, teachers, kitchen staff. It became a big success! We can see them
displayed on the walls around classrooms.
In June, the children asked if we could do more to celebrate the Eid. We presented the idea to Miss Thomas and with her support, a non-uniform day with fun activities was organized. The few weeks leading to the celebrations were dedicated to creating beautiful decorations. The school looked amazing and all the children really enjoyed it!
School Council also helped to clean Year 1 playground by picking up litter and now, as the weather is hot and the temperatures are high, we look after the plants by watering them.
As the school year is coming to an end, I would like to say a big thank you to the amazing children who all worked so hard this year and how excited I am to see what we can achieve next year!
Our plans to promote the School Council.
School Councils that tell the rest of the school what they’re up to are far more likely to get children involved in helping out and contributing ideas.
The School Councillors are always willing to lend a helping hand around school and will often be seen doing odd jobs in classrooms, litter picking in the playground, or helping their fellow pupils.
We love taking part in fundraising events, and did a fantastic job on Red Nose Day this year raising a fabulous £392! This is all thanks to our generous parents and staff who donated!
In other exciting news...
The School Council organised for our school to be involved in the Big Health Challenge run by Manchester Healthy Schools. Manchester Healthy Schools have been working in partnership with Manchester schools for over 20 years - tackling health inequalities and improving the health and wellbeing of children and young people.
Every year Manchester Healthy Schools runs a Big Health Challenge, with a different theme each year. This year the question was "What are you doing to get your school community involved in healthy lifestyles?" The school council presented their ideas to their classes, and everyone worked together to create posters, leaflets, poems and other wonderful pieces of work. These were all then sent off to Manchester Healthy School and...WE WON!!!
Congratulations everyone!!!!
Follow the link below to have a look at the Manchester Healthy Schools announcment on twitter. https://publish.twitter.com/?