Pupil Voice at Horsendale Primary School

The children in our school are the most important people! As such, they have lots of opportunities to share their thoughts on school issues – both formally and informally!

Here at Horsendale Primary School we pride ourselves on giving our pupils the opportunity to be heard by giving them a voice. The term voice refers to ways of listening to the views of Horsendale Pupils. The views of our pupils are imperative to the safe and happy environment in which they learn.

In our school hall a display showcases some of the ways in which our children have shaped our school.

There are many ways in which all pupils are given a chance to share their ideas, opinions and concerns on a regular basis during a typical school day. These include:

• Responding to feedback
• Group/paired activities
• Peer/self-marking
• Circle time
• Classroom roles and responsibilities
• Adding ideas and suggestions via the class council box in every classroom
• Or quite simply by speaking out

More specifically children can volunteer for or take part in, a number of specific roles/activities in school such as:

• Pupil interviews      
• Class assemblies
• Festive/charity/community events
• Sporting competitions
• Play Pal duties
• Classroom roles and responsibilities

A number of roles/responsibilities are undertaken for the full year and pupils are elected by their class peers. These roles last for the year and are timetabled to ensure that the elected pupils regularly meet in order to represent their classes. Each half term their meetings and activities are timetabled to allow adults involved to address and action issues, ideas and concerns. There may be other times such as assemblies when groups present their work to the rest of school. These times can be organised as and when needed.

Class Council

Elected children make up our Class Councils. At the start of each year candidates prepare a presentation in order to persuade their peers why they would be a good candidate to represent them on their Class Council. The positions they can run for are Chair, Deputy Chair and Secretary.

School Council

A School Council is a group of students who are elected to represent the views of all pupils and to improve their school. "School Council" means all kinds of school-based groups run by students, including student forums and youth parliaments.

There are 16 School Councillors here at Horsendale, 2 representatives from Reception, Years 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6. The School Council comprises of the Chair & Deputy Chair from each Class Council. We meet to discuss anything we believe is important to our school. We have suggestion boxes in each class and these are considered each week. We feed back to all pupils during school assemblies. The School Council deliver a termly whole school assembly on a theme of their choosing.

Children’s Parliament

Each school within The Flying High Partnership has 2 Children’s Parliament representatives, again, these children are elected by their peers. Horsendale’s representatives regularly meet with the representatives from all the other schools in the Trust. They make important decisions which affect all schools in the Trust.