Meet our newly elected student council.  At Good Shepherd Primary & Nursery School, we place great emphasis on child-centred provision and as part of this we value and respect the views and opinions of our children.  We include them in our continuing cycles of school improvement questionnaires and we also follow their lead in the school council.  A school council is a formal group of pupils within a school who are elected by their peers to represent them and their views.

Why have a school council?
There are lots of reasons.

Article 12 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) says that children and young people should have a say in decisions that affect their lives. A school council can provide a meaningful way in which pupils can voice their opinions and have their views taken into account in decisions which impact upon their education and school experiences.

Our school council that is supported by Mrs McCafferty, aims to help to improve many aspects of school life.  It is an important and useful way for us as a school to provide leadership and development opportunities for our pupils.  Our council has prioritised fund raising, charity work, organising fun activities and assisting in smooth school management and addressing bullying as their focus for this year.

Within the school curriculum, one of the key areas making up the ‘Learning for Life and Work’ theme is active participation. The curriculum requires that young people are provided with opportunities to participate in school and society. School councils are an excellent way in which to increase participation, teaching young people about democracy, local and global citizenship and accountability.

Our student council are responsible for setting their own meeting agendas and recording the minutes as well as following through the decisions which they have made to improve their school.  This is also shared with our Board of Governors.