What School Councils should be about School councillors are (or generally should be!) elected by their peers, to represent their views at a school council. Leading on from there, the school council’s job is to represent the student’s views to the school management (e.g. the Headteacher and school governors). There is a United Nations convention (entitled the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, usually referred to as “UNCRC”). UNCRC was enshrined in our own law on 16th December 1991. It is therefore as much part of our law as any other law and has legal force. Article 12 of the convention says: • • •
Every child and young person has the right to express his or her views freely – about everything that affects him or her. The child’s or young person’s views must be given ‘due weight’ depending on his or her age and maturity. The child or young person has the right to be heard in all decision-making processes, including in court hearings. The child or young person can speak for him or herself, or someone else can speak for him or her.
School councils enact UNCRC Article 12 in schools. School councils are there not just to reflect the students’ views not just on single issues like the colour of the school toilets (important though that is) but “about everything that affects him or her”. This means that school councils are there to represent the students’ views on those matters in wider school life that the students feel are important to them. School councils are there to play a part in the well-being of their fellow students. School councillors also serve as the perfect two-way channel of communication to and from Government and the many other bodies whose aim it is to improve the well-being of children and young people. Examples of these are that: •
School Councils UK has taken a strong lead in support of hand hygiene in schools and encourages school councils to have hand hygiene on their agenda. For example, the school council should promote hand hygiene among students; it should also take it up with the school if (say) the facilities are inadequate e.g. no soap or hand-drying facilities.
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As requested by the Minister for Education, children’s views were sought in a review of the role of the Office of the Children’s Commissioner in England. Dr John Dunford, whose task it was to carry out the review, reached out to the children through School Councils UK. The children expressed their views by means of a survey and these views were incorporated in Dr Dunford’s report, which was accepted by government in its entirety and is now being implemented.
Copyright SCUK (2009) Ltd/School Councils Foundation : June 2011 School Councils UK, The Old Dairy, Victoria Street, Felixstowe, IP11 7EW T: +44 (0)845 456 9428 M: +44 (0)7748 357000 W: www.schoolcouncils.org E: stephenpage@schoolcouncils.org
While many schools have effective school councils, there are many more who don’t rise to quite those levels. It is to both groups that these thoughts are offered. Here follow some of the main strands that School Councils often do consider. No school council that we know of does all of them – it’s doubtful that time would permit. School Councils UK is working daily to ramp up support from professionals in each of the areas discussed below, so as to support school councils further. Above all, school councils should have power and purpose. We suggest that that purpose is to improve the general life quality of other students in and around school.
Copyright SCUK (2009) Ltd/School Councils Foundation : June 2011 School Councils UK, The Old Dairy, Victoria Street, Felixstowe, IP11 7EW T: +44 (0)845 456 9428 M: +44 (0)7748 357000 W: www.schoolcouncils.org E: stephenpage@schoolcouncils.org
What school councils should be about School councils should have power and purpose. They should empower children and young people to take more control over their lives and have a genuine say in things that affect their lives. School councils should be fun. School councils should be about helping to make other children’s lives better, just like democracy in the wider world. Here are School Councils UK’s Top 20 issues that should concern a school council: 1. Children’s Rights (*) Right at the foundations, underpinning everything in a child’s life, are the rights given to all children. These are enshrined in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC), which came into effect under English Law on 16th December 1991. Among UNCRC’s provisions is article 12, which says that children have a right to be consulted about matters that affect their lives. That’s what school councils should be about. 2. School Loos School loos are the number one issue for school councils, not least because they sometimes leave a lot to be desired. Behaviour in school loos can sometimes be intimidating. In extreme cases, to society’s collective shame, some children avoid going to the toilets because the conditions are just so bad. See our School Councils Handbook for more. 3. Bullying, Buddies and “The Big Ones looking out for The Little Ones” School councillors have a vital role to perform monitoring behaviour and organising peer support activities, reporting any physical or verbal bullying that might be happening (sometimes out of adult view) and helping school management to understand and deal with what’s happening. School councils might want to consider having Buddies in their school to help them look out for those who might be being bullied or just neglected, the whole point of our advice being “The Big Ones looking out for The Little Ones”. See our School Councils Handbook for more. 4. Hand hygiene (*) Hand hygiene is desperately important for all sorts of reasons. School councils should be flagging up inadequate hand-washing facilities. For example: where there is no soap; no means of hand-drying; or dirty hand-basins. For use in class, school councils may want to suggest hand sanitisers, not only because it helps hand hygiene but keeps children healthier and increases school attendance. Supporting Global Handwashing Day is one way to make a difference to people’s lives in school.
Copyright SCUK (2009) Ltd/School Councils Foundation : June 2011 School Councils UK, The Old Dairy, Victoria Street, Felixstowe, IP11 7EW T: +44 (0)845 456 9428 M: +44 (0)7748 357000 W: www.schoolcouncils.org E: stephenpage@schoolcouncils.org
5. Staff Appointments (*) School councils should have an input to the Interview Panel who are charged with Staff Appointments. That is not to say that the pupils make any decision over who should or should not be appointed. Children have a right to be consulted and the School Council is the right body to represent the Children’s and Young People’s perspectives. 6. Travel and outside the school Not all school life happens within school limits. The school council suggests projects for travel to and from school and improving safety. Do children feel vulnerable coming to and going home from school? Is there bullying outside the school premises? Is it a question of ”stranger danger” or dangerous traffic? Is your school adversely affected by the local environment? Are the buses all that they should or could be? And when children are online at home, is there online bullying going on? See our School Councils Handbook for more. 7. Ecology matters There may already be an Eco committee in school, discussing and suggesting ways in which school life can have a smaller carbon footprint, such as: turning lights off; recycling materials more effectively; cutting down the number of car trips to school; discussing solar panels and wind-turbines. See our School Councils Handbook for more. 8. Catering, School Food and Nutrition The food we eat could scarcely be more important and so, as many school councils do, the food at school should be discussed by the school council with the school catering staff and management, suggesting ways of improving the nutrition and range of school food. School councils may like to “borrow” ideas from other school councils via the School Councils UK web network of school councils. See our School Councils Handbook for more. 9. Sports, play and other physical activity School councils should be showing a lead by discussing sports activity and whether there is enough happening after school; what playground games they are and could/should be (e.g. skipping); what dance or other physical activity they can take part in. See our School Councils Handbook for more. 10. Finance including Personal Finance (*) A school council should be responsible for its own budget and finance. It should also encourage the teaching of Personal Finance by means of an in-school bank, in and out of school because it is of such importance to understand money properly, in later life.
Copyright SCUK (2009) Ltd/School Councils Foundation : June 2011 School Councils UK, The Old Dairy, Victoria Street, Felixstowe, IP11 7EW T: +44 (0)845 456 9428 M: +44 (0)7748 357000 W: www.schoolcouncils.org E: stephenpage@schoolcouncils.org
11. Charitability Many schools already fundraise for charity. The school council should be actively involved in and encouraging charitability, whether that is a matter of fundraising, putting on events, raising awareness or (say) corresponding with an African child. The school council decides which charities to support and organises fundraising events. See our School Councils Handbook for more. 12. Fundraising for school Some say that charity starts at home and the school council may want to consider raising funds for the school itself, which leads naturally to… 13. Entrepreneurialism (*) How we wish this was a taught subject at school! By (say) buying apples from a fruit wholesaler and selling them at school, the school council could (a) make a profit (b) encourage healthy eating and (c) make a contribution to school or other funds. Once the entrepreneurial genie is out of the bottle, all sorts of other ideas will surface. How about a school council shop? You can find more ideas on the School Councils UK website. 14. Your school councils, youth councils and your local government councils Is your school affiliated or linked to area Youth Councils? Perhaps it should be. Does your school council talk with your local council? Are there enough adequate play facilities in parks, for example? If not, perhaps the school council should talk to the local council because this is another way for UNCRC Article 31 – “Every child and young person has the right to rest, play and leisure” - to be enacted. By making local government councillors aware of the matters that concern school children, local government councillors can do a better job. Working with a Youth Council may give added strength to your voice. You are part of the whole democratic process, not just a project at school. See our School Councils Handbook for more. 15. Development of school policies (*) The number of subjects for school policies is seemingly unlimited (a quick Google reveals 231). Aside from anti-bullying (discussed elsewhere), subjects like marking and feedback policy, anti-litter policy, library policy and school uniform policy are common areas for a school council to become involved. 16. Addiction (*) Certain school councils may wish or need to address addiction in its many forms: tobacco; drugs; substance abuse and alcohol abuse; its prevalence at school; how it affects fellow pupils; what is being done and so on.
Copyright SCUK (2009) Ltd/School Councils Foundation : June 2011 School Councils UK, The Old Dairy, Victoria Street, Felixstowe, IP11 7EW T: +44 (0)845 456 9428 M: +44 (0)7748 357000 W: www.schoolcouncils.org E: stephenpage@schoolcouncils.org
17. Teaching and Learning - Curriculum Development Your school council can play a pivotal part by having involvement in the whole process of Teaching and Learning. The school council reviews lessons and homework and acts on students’ concerns. The latest and best research from The Sutton Trust shows that the two best mechanisms for improvement in learning are (1) rapid feedback to pupils to tell them what’s right and wrong and (2) peer mentoring, i.e. where pupils take an active part in helping others to learn. School councils have a role to play in discussing curriculum development with the teaching staff. See our School Councils Handbook for more. 18. Buildings and Equipment, Health and Safety The school council suggests improvements to the building and new equipment. Do you know of something that’s broken and needs fixing? When was the last time someone hurt him or herself and how can we prevent it from happening again? School councillors have a great role to play in keeping people safe and reporting anything dangerous, so that it can be put right. See our School Councils Handbook for more. 19. Making links - your school and the wider community The school council contacts other schools and organisations. One of the greatest ways to have a happy and successful life is to show that you care about other people. So School Councils UK encourages school councils to think about visits in the local community, perhaps older folks who would almost certainly welcome a visit. Some schools put on concert parties. It’s good for you to be involved in your local community. School councils should play an active part in Remembrance Day. See our School Councils Handbook for more. 20. The Official Stuff The school council is not there just to exist in its own right. To be effective, it has to be properly structured and organised. The school council prepares its own school council budget and organises its own finances. When is your next election? Do you have an Ecoor other committee. If not, should you? How did the last elections work? Is anything wrong with how the school councillors are elected? How could we make the elections more relevant to school life? Is the council a popularity contest, and if so, why? There is much more point to a school council that is well-run, effective and meaningful. It’s YOUR school council. To be relevant you need to communicate effectively. Think about your own school council website, part of the School Councils UK network. You need to be able to receive the views of others. To be truly effective, you need training because a lot of hard work has gone into finding out the best ways to run a school council and make it work to everyone’s benefit. Why re-invent the wheel?
Copyright SCUK (2009) Ltd/School Councils Foundation : June 2011 School Councils UK, The Old Dairy, Victoria Street, Felixstowe, IP11 7EW T: +44 (0)845 456 9428 M: +44 (0)7748 357000 W: www.schoolcouncils.org E: stephenpage@schoolcouncils.org
School Councils may also wish to talk about: organising and planning school assemblies; organising a dance/disco or other social events; hospitality and welcoming new students and guests to the school; publicity – producing a newsletter/website/posters and press releases; student-staff relations – planning projects and events for students and staff together. See our School Councils Handbook for more. This is in no way a definitive list of items for every school council agenda at every meeting. In addition to the above, each school will have its own local issues to discuss and deal with. These are items that would be usefully discussed at a school council (recognising the constraints of time). School councillors are by definition leaders and School Councils UK supports and encourages them in that role. Leadership is a learned process, much like any other. School councillors learn to lead by helping those less able than themselves. A formal School Councils UK certificate is available, as a way to say “thank you” to school councillors for their contribution to school life. It is a certificate that can be shown to a prospective new school, university or employer that will mark them out as having made a special contribution. School Councils UK wishes to recognise the very best school councils, regionally and nationally and is working with major national institutions to that end. School Councils UK is proud to be raising the profile of school councils so that it becomes an increasingly integral part of society.
(*) New School Council Areas of concern included above
Children’s rights Hand Hygiene Staff Appointments Finance including Personal Finance Entrepreneurialism Development of school policies Addiction
Copyright SCUK (2009) Ltd/School Councils Foundation : June 2011 School Councils UK, The Old Dairy, Victoria Street, Felixstowe, IP11 7EW T: +44 (0)845 456 9428 M: +44 (0)7748 357000 W: www.schoolcouncils.org E: stephenpage@schoolcouncils.org