School Council

What is a school council?

A school council is a group of pupils who are elected to represent the views of all pupils and to improve their school.

What does it do?

• A school council meets - with a teacher present - to dicuss and sort out problems and ideas.  These may include school lunches, behaviour or ideas for fundraising events.
• Members of the school council will be responsible for carrying out the ideas that have been agreed, such as planning charity events, meeting with governors or other communities, putting forward views of other children in the school.

What jobs are there?

Annually, each year group elects two representatives , to be members of the school council.  The council will then meet to elect officers such as:

• Chair
• Vice-Chair
• Secretary

What makes a good School Council?

A good school council is one that represents the views of all children and gets things done.  These are some of the things that make our school council effective:

• Regular meetings
• Good communication between respresentatives and their class
• Smaller groups (subcommittees) working on specific events or issues

Do they get anything done?

Good school councils do get things done - our examples include:

• Successfully re-introduced playground equipment
• Organised fund raising for Children in Need
• Improved playground equipment
• Work closely with Road Safety Officers
• Arranged a successful non-uniform day to support Comic Relief
• Currently raising money to fund an outdoor clock in the playground

Do you get out of lessons?

When the school council meets during curriculum time then you would miss some lessons.

What is the School Council History?

School Councils have been around for about 40 years, but now with citizenship being taught, there are many more around.

The School Council plays a very important role in school life.  They attend regular meetings and discuss important issues which may effect the pupils, parents and staff of St Gilbert's and the surrounding community.  When necessary the Chairperson and Vice Chair often put forward a motion to the other Councillors to invite visitors to the meetings to discuss particular projects.  Minutes are recorded by the elected Council Secretary.

The School Councillors are supported by Mrs Pattison (Link Teacher)