Student Ryan leads the new "student voice" project
Wendover is delighted to announce the launch of its School Council, which met for the first time this term. The project has been led by one of our Key Stage 4 students, Ryan, as part of his GCSE Citizenship course, and is already proving a valuable way for students across the school to have their say and learn life skills as they have a real impact on our school community.
In this blog, we’ll take a look at what a School Council does and the enrichment and benefits it brings to all those involved.
What is a school council?
Our School Council is a group of pupils who have been chosen to represent the views of their classmates and help improve aspects of school life. Once established, the School Council will be able to act flexibly, responding to changing student needs and views. It will be able to arrange meetings including members of staff, ask for a budget for agreed purposes, raise issues on behalf of the students and provide feedback. The Council will provide an inclusive process to share pupils’ views with the leadership team.
“I love the idea of a School Council,” says Principal, Sarah Thomas. “Now that we have a significant number of students across a wide age range and in different countries, it makes sense for them to be able to talk to each other about what would make a difference to them, and to raise this with the team. I look forward tremendously to hearing regularly from our new ‘student voice’!”
Why have a Student Council?
There are lots of reasons why a Student Council is a good idea. Fundamentally, it gives young people the opportunity to participate actively in school as part of society, teaching them about democracy, local citizenship and accountability.
- The Department of Education (DfE) is keen to support all schools to have structures in place which allow pupils to have a real say in issues that affect them and to know that their opinions count.
- The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (Article 12) advises that children and young people should have a say in decisions that affect their lives.
More importantly, at Wendover we value the inclusive opportunity that our Student Council gives to every pupil to enrich our school community. Representatives from every age group will also have the chance to develop their organisational and leadership skills, promote the views of their fellow students and have a real impact on school life.
Setting up Wendover School Council
Ryan has led the way in promoting and organising our School Council. Challenged to undertake an ‘active citizenship’ task as part of his Citizenship GCSE, he set about exploring how he could make an active contribution that would develop the ‘student voice’ in our online school.
Ryan initially lacked the confidence to present his ideas to others. Fortunately, online teachers at Wendover are expert in developing their students’ self-worth. Ryan has built a strong relationship over three years with his Citizenship teacher, Lainy Rodgers, and she has been able to model and plan the project alongside him.
Professionally supported by Lainy, Ryan investigated the details and challenges of establishing a new student council. This resulted in a pitch to key staff for approval in principle: our Founder, Sarah Bacon, and Principal Sarah Thomas were thrilled with the idea.
“Ryan worked hard to develop the idea of a School Council, and his confidence and self-worth is growing all the time,” says Lainy. “I am proud of the way he has tackled this project and am certain it will be of lasting benefit to the school community.”
of lasting benefit to the school community"
Encouraging confidence across the school
Lainy and Ryan agreed that it might be hard to persuade students to stand for the Council first time round. So, a whole school activity was designed to encourage students to share their best traits in response to questions such as ‘What would others think is great about me?’ Cleverly, this elicited some wonderful responses, which were then sorted and anonymised.
Each year group voted during Group Tutorials to choose their representative (just one for Primary pupils). We now have a full Council of enthusiastic representatives who are keen to do their job:
“I wanted to be on the school council because I wanted to give something back to the school and make it better for everyone, now and in the future,” says Ellis (Year 10 Rep). Benjamin (Year 6 Rep) agrees: “I wanted to be on the school council because I wanted to make the school a better place and I wanted people’s ideas to be heard through my voice.”
The Student Council’s first meeting (October 2024)
At the first meeting, members agreed to host a launch party on the last day before half-term, with Halloween dress, quizzes and a competition. The council nominated students to create a poster for the launch, design a quiz and judge the competitions, and the event marked the launch of the School Council in style.
The Council is now fully established and monthly meetings are scheduled for the rest of the year. Council members are pleased to be taking part: “I’m really enjoying being part of the School Council and I’m really proud of what we’ve achieved so far,” says Benjamin.
Halloween fun
Plans for the future
The School Council now has ambitious plans for the future. Members will continue to seek ideas and input from their year groups, and as Chairman of the Council, Ryan is keen to look at ideas such as setting up a virtual ‘common room’ to support mental health, looking at meet-ups and even drafting documents such as a School Charter.
Review is key to any project, and an essential element of the Citizenship GCSE. With Lainy’s guidance, Ryan is learning how to review the effectiveness of this form of student voice through year group representatives, and looking at the successes and challenges of the School Council.
“I feel confident about the council and think as the year progresses, so will the council,” says Eitan, who represents Year 9. Specifically, he notes that “integrating our peers’ opinions and recommendations” will be important.
Ryan is proud that all his hard work in setting up the School Council is paying off. “This project has made me think about student rights and responsibilities and how we can create effective opportunities for students to have their say. I am sure this is a great way to work together as a community to enrich our school.”
Find out more about how we support opportunities for students to work together and develop confidence by contacting us today.
