St Francis Xavier's school council

The School Council plays a very important role in our School life. Each year the children who wish to campaign to be elected for the School Council have to fill in an application form which will then be reviewed by our Head of School. Then following the applications, applicants are interviewed for the position and badges are then given out in our whole school assembly. This links well with British Values and democracy which is integrated throughout our school. These children will represent the views and needs of all pupils and their aim is to improve the school. They attend regular meetings and discuss important issues which may affect the pupils, staff and parents of St Francis and the surrounding community. These individuals are imperative for our school as they champion the pupil’s voice and encourage engagement through all year groups. The outcomes from the meetings are then shared with Mr Hoyes whilst enabling us to work together to make our school a happy, safe and successful environment for all.

In our most recent meeting we started by reading a letter from Mr Hoyes replying to our school council ideas that we proposed for the school. We read through each point and discussed the questions Mr Hoyes asked the councillors in his letter. We suggested new equipment for the playground such as skipping ropes, basketballs, velcro bats and balls. They also suggested new books that we want for the library and our reading areas. They suggested more Harry Potter books, Unicorn academy, Joke books, Monster High, Michael Morpurgo books, Tom Gates books, Football academy and Paddington books. These suggestions were passed on to Mr Hoyes to order and then the order was given out by the school council in Friday's whole school assembly.

The School Council created the friendship stop/friendship ambassadors to combat loneliness for anti-bullying week. We introduced the idea to the whole school in Monday's assembly. We went through the friendship stop sign and how the friendship stop works. Finally we created a timetable to ensure a friendship ambassador is monitoring the friendship stop sign at all times on break times and lunch times.

David and Sarlote wrote letters to Gail from Ivy Court and Mr Hoyes, our head of school. Sarlote wrote a lovely letter to Gail thanking her for her visit and to express how excited we are to visit Ivy Court. We explained our school's mission statement and how the pupils meet that statement on a daily basis. David wrote a letter to our head of school Mr Hoyes suggesting the school council's ideas on how we can improve school. The children wrote their letters on headed paper and handed them out.

The school council met with Gail from Ivy Court care home to discuss how we can help and build a connection with the residents who live there. Gail explained how the residents often feel lonely and how the school council can bring joy and happiness to the residents. The children shared their ideas with Gail and she also shared ideas with us. We will be writing a letter to the residents reaching out to introduce ourselves.

The children who were successful in their applications and interviews accepted their school council badges in our whole school assembly in front of their peers and families. We wear our badges with pride and cannot wait to start working together to make our school a happy, safe and successful environment.

To become a school councillor at St Francis Xavier you need to fill in an application form expressing your interest in the role of being a school councillor. Then Mr Hoyes reviewed the applications and sent out formal letters inviting the successful applications to attend an interview. Mr Hoyes and Miss Langston conducted the interviews and asked the children several important questions to assess if they were the right fit for the job. Once the interview was over Mr Hoyes shook the hands of the successful applicants and welcomed them onto the school council.

Please find our school council meeting minutes below: