Sutton Valence Primary School,
North St, Maidstone, Kent ME17 3HT

01622 842188

office@sutton-valence.kent.sch.uk

Sutton Valence Primary School

A A A

Our mission is to ensure we all participate in the constant quest of knowledge, learning and adventure so that each individual can build upon their core strengths to aspire to make a real difference.

School Council Voice

 

Our school encourages pupils to have a real say in issues that affect them and to know that their opinions count. Our School Council consists of two pupils from Years 2 through to 6, and these pupils are elected by their peers to represent them and their views.

Article 12 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) states that children and young people should have a say in decisions that affect their lives. Our School Council was set up to offer this; a meaningful and consistent initiative through which pupils can voice their opinions and have their views considered in decisions which impact them. A School Council that is nurtured and supported can help to improve many general aspects of school life, and furthermore provides pupils with active participation, leadership, and development opportunities. We hope to inspire our pupils and teach them about democracy, local and global citizenship, and accountability. 

Pupils elected as members of the 2023/2024 School Council are: 

 

                    Year 2                                     Year 3                                     Year 4                                        Year 5                                        Year 6

 

 

We are the pupil voice!

 

Throughout the current academic year we are going to be holding regular meetings to discuss and sort out problems which may include:

  • Fundraising ideas and events
  • Charities the school will support
  • School behaviour, rewards and sanctions
  • Carrying out ideas that have been agreed   

 

At our very first meeting of the academic year we discussed our roles and responsibilities, and what it really means to be a member of the School Council and a representative of our respective peers. Details of further meetings can be found below:

March 2023

School council met to decide on fundraising ideas for Comic Relief/ Red Nose Day. It has been decided that our tag line for this year will be 'Say Something Funny to Raise Money'. The council decided that the school could come in dressed as one of the Mister Men or Little Miss characters as they are featuring on the official t-shirts. All costumes should be homemade if people choose to dress up. We will also be having a Stand Up Comedy show for children to enter if they wish to do a mini routine to make everyone smile. Mrs Cooper will making some delicious biscuits and Lego have launched a competition for all children to take part in if they want to. They are asking for children to design or make something that will make others smile. More information will be shared regarding this. 

Miss Coleman and School Council have also set a date for the filming of their Internet Safety information video so watch this space!

 

January 2023/ February 2023 

School council's meetings over the first 2 months of the year have been regarding Internet Safety. They carried out class discussions on how safe everyone felt using the internet, whether they knew what to do if they saw something that made them feel uncomfortable and whether they believed that parents knew the age limits or how to set safety features on different games and apps. The outcomes from these discussions showed that the children did feel safe and could explain what they should do if something made them feel uncomfortable but they believed that parents could benefit from some guidance on how to set safety features on different apps and games. Therefore, they have met with Miss Coleman (our computing lead) and have been writing an information video to go on the school website. This will be filmed and made available to watch in March. 

November 2022

School council met at the beginning of the month to confirm plans for Children in Need. All children can come to school wearing yellow and/or spots and optional crazy hair for £1. All classes will also take part in a dance/ exercise-a-thon throughout the day. School council will also be reviewing the school credit chart with their classes during Anti-Bullying week which will feed into our updated Behaviour policy.

October 2022

This month School Council met to discuss the plans for Children in Need. We met initially to discuss that it was coming up and that we needed to plan our fundraising activities. School Council then went away and spoke to their classes about suggestions or ideas that they had. Once these had been gathered, we met again to shortlist the ideas and decide whether they were practical or realistic. From this School Council, will return to their classes and ask the children to vote for their favourite idea. We will then meet again during the first week back to finalise plans. 

As well as Children in Need, we also discussed creating new posters for the school to remind children of the different ways they can seek support if they feel they need it or our not feeling happy. School Council brainstormed all the different ways that children can share their worries in school and will meet again in November to design the poster. 

September 2022

This month School Council met to discuss how feedback and marking is working within each class. The representatives asked their classes about the different marking codes, their preferred method of feedback and what they find helpful. Once they had asked their class questions around these points, School Council met again to compare notes and to discuss what the common themes were. The finalised common themes were then discussed with the teachers during a staff meeting and used to inform the reviewed Feedback and Marking Policy.