Find out all about our School Council and let them know what you want them to do to make the school even better - use your class pupil voice box!

Hello from our School Council!

School Council meeting: 8.3.24

Present: Sophie, Scarlett, Dexter C, Nancy, Stanley, Rafe, Elliot, Paloma, Alice, Mrs Hodgson (Dexter B absent)

Chair: Scarlett, Co-chair: Sophie, Secretary: Dexter C

Discussion:

• Ideas for an Easter event: Easter crafting, Easter egg hunt with clues around the field and dojo prizes written on the back of printed Easter eggs, Clues around the field, Jelly bean prizes, Easter drawing competition: don’t take part if you don’t want to; provide a template for less confident drawers; class vs class in each year group; prize to be whole class dojos

Vote was held:

Easter craft: 1 vote

Clues around field: 2 votes

Drawing competition: 5 votes

(1 person chose not to vote.)

Agreed actions:

• Every class will take part in the competition in the last week of term - details to be discussed and shared with teachers

School Council Meeting:: 23.2.24

Present: Sophie, Scarlett, Dexter B, Dexter C, Nancy, Stanley, Rafe, Elliot, Paloma, Alice, Mrs Hodgson

Chair:Dexter C Co-chair: Scarlett Secretary: Sophie Communications: Dexter B

Discussion:

Ideas for an Easter event:

• Easter baskets (craft), Easter-themed dojo shop, including Easter glasses, headbands, stickers, poppits, tattoos, Bookmarks, Easter cards, Colouring, paper crafts, Treasure hunt, Easter competition

We discussed not spending any money on this event, or asking parents for contributions, which means that any ideas relating to the Dojo shop are not suitable.
Agreed actions:

• Mrs Hodgson to discuss the giving out of dojos with the teachers: this still needs to be discussed
• Elliot to ask what his class mean by ‘bigger’ book corners - size of area or more books? To be discussed in Elliot’s class
• Mrs Hodgson to ask Mrs Gasser what sort of activities would be acceptable for an Easter celebration

School Council Meeting: 19.1.24

Present: Sophie, Scarlett, Dexter B, Dexter C, Nancy, Stanley, Rafe, Elliot, Paloma, Mrs Hodgson (Alice not present)

Chair: Dexter B, Co-chair: Dexter C, Secretary: Scarlett, Communications: Sophie

Feedback from classes:

• Could there be a girls’ football team - there is already one for upper base, so could this be extended to lower base?
• Different fundraising opportunities, for charities and for school funds
• Class pets
• Bigger cloakrooms
• More stationery
• Bigger book corners
• Longer PE lessons
• Reduce some prices in the dojo shop, Should teachers give out more dojos?, Re-introduce the lucky dip to the dojo shop, Children to be able to exchange dojos for summer fair tickets

Discussion:

• Football: decided that this did not need to be discussed at the moment.
• Fundraising - good idea but need to be careful not to ask for money constantly.
• Dojo points for summer fair tickets would not work as that is how the PTA raise money.
• Class pets - a lot of work for the teacher; who would pay for it? Sad when it dies; smelly classrooms; issue of weekends. Overall, not a good idea.
• Not possible to make the cloakrooms larger - would need building work and money.
• We need to look after the stationery we have.
• Not sure what is meant by the book corner comment - Elliot to check with his class.
• PE lessons are the same length as other lessons. We should get changed quicker and listen to our teacher and then we may have longer.
• If we did reduce some dojo prices it would only be by a small amount - everyone needs to remember that the school has to buy the prizes. However, some teachers are more generous than others. This could be something that the teachers talk about.
• Lucky dip to be brought back to the dojo shop in the summer term to use up stock.

Agreed actions:

• Mrs Hodgson to discuss the giving out of dojos with the teachers
• Elliot to ask what his class mean by ‘bigger’ book corners - size of area or more books?
• All school councillors to think about Easter events, ready to discuss in the next meeting

School Council Meeting: 5.1.24

Present: Sophie, Scarlett, Dexter B, Dexter C, Nancy, Stanley, Rafe, Alice, Elliot, Paloma, Mrs Hodgson

Chair: Scarlett, Co-chair: Sophie, Secretary: Dexter B, Communications: Dexter C

Discussion:

• PSHE at Southbourne Juniors: Miss Lowrey asked the School Council for their feedback on PSHE lessons. The feedback was very positive and details will be passed to Miss Lowrey. School council suggested the following improvements:

• Lessons outdoors
• More frequent PSHE lessons - more than once a week - as it so helpful to us as we grow up - and more frequent yoga and mindfulness sessions

• Dojo shop order: everyone was happy to order the same stock as last year. Discussions were had as to how we could fund the dojo shop given that prices are rising and we want to reduce plastic, which brings the cost up.
• Brent Lodge assembly: Mrs Hodgson reported that she had spoken to Mrs Gasser, who had agreed that children can bring in a small, named cuddly toy when they bring a donation for Brent Lodge.
• Lunchtime arrangements: Mrs Hodgson spoke to Mrs Gasser about packed lunches and school dinners sitting together - due to health and safety reasons the arrangement cannot be changed.
• Any other business:

• It would be useful to have the sports leader timetable up in the hall or in classrooms so we know the sports on offer to us each day.
• It would be good to celebrate sports leaders the same way we do with School Council and Eco Warriors.
• Children need to be reminded about rules about toys and fidget tools in school.

Agreed actions:

• Mrs Hodgson to discuss sports leader timetable and board with Mr Harper
• Dexter C to report back to Miss Lowrey

School Council Meeting: 23.11.23

Present: Scarlett, Dexter B, Dexter C, Nancy, Rafe, Alice, Elliot, Stanley, Mrs Hodgson

In this week’s meeting, we sorted the new dojo shop stock and decided on prices - these will be sent to classes next week.

The year 6 teachers will organise children to run the dojo shop, starting Monday 4th December.

We also celebrated raising £275 for Children in Need.

School Council Meeting: 9.11.23

Present: Sophie, Scarlett, Dexter B, Dexter C, Nancy, Rafe, Alice, Elliot, Paloma, Mrs Hodgson

Chair: Sophie, Co-chair: Dexter B, Secretary: Dexter C, Communications: Scarlett

Feedback from classes:

• Beach clean-up, Hot chocolate in dojo shop, More discos, Pen pass in dojo shop, Calm corner in meadow, More time to eat at lunchtimes, A book club for every year group, Accessible play areas, School dinners and packed lunches able to eat together

Discussion:

• Mrs Hodgson shared that the last point above had been raised before. Council agreed that she should raise this with Mrs Gasser
• Council discussed ideas from suggestion boxes that could be passed straight to Eco Warrior team
• Arrangements for collecting money for Children in Need - Scarlett to write a letter to school council parents
• Mrs Hodgson brought an idea from last year’s school council: animal theme dressing up for Brent Lodge assembly which has been booked for January. Council agreed it would be a good idea, and that children could dress up as an animal, or dress in animal colours, or bring in a stuffed toy animal to support Brent Lodge.

Agreed actions:

• Scarlett to update School Council board with further details about Children in Need
• Scarlett to write letter to ask School Council parents if their child can come to school early on Friday 17th to help collect money
• Mrs Hodgson to talk to Mrs Gasser about lunchtime arrangements and animal dressing up day

School Council Meeting: 12.10.23

Present: Sophie, Scarlett, Dexter B, Dexter C, Nancy, Stanley, Rafe, Alice, Elliot, Paloma, Mrs Hodgson

Chair: Mrs Hodgson

Secretary: Mrs Hodgson

Discussion:

• Ideas were shared around how we could support Children in Need in November.
• Some ideas (from Alice and Scarlett) were best suited to fundraising later on in the year.
• Mrs Hodgson explained that we needed to do something simple that the Infant School could also join in with.
• Together, we wrote a letter to parents with information about Children in Need: this letter will be checked by Mrs Gasser and be sent out before half term.
• We also discussed some school councillors being available before school on Children in Need day to collect donations.
• Mrs Hodgson then met separately with the Year 6 school councillors to explain the roles they would be taking on: chair, co-chair, secretary and communications. It was agreed that for the next meeting, Sophie will be chair, Dexter B will be co-chair, Dexter C will be secretary and Scarlett will be communications.

Agreed actions:

Bring suggestion boxes to next meeting.

School Council Meeting: 5.10.23

Present: Sophie, Scarlett, Dexter B, Dexter C, Nancy, Stanley, Rafe, Alice, Elliot, Paloma, Mrs Hodgson

Chair: Mrs Hodgson

Secretary: Mrs Hodgson

Feedback from classes:

Nothing this week as this was our very first meeting - congratulations to our School Council of 2023!

Discussion:

• Introductions
• Mrs Hodgson explained what some of the responsibilities would be, including extra responsibilities for Year 6
• Everyone had the chance to ask questions about school council
• Photos were taken for the board in the hall, and each councillor wrote something about themselves to go with their picture
• Suggestion boxes were discussed, as well as guidance for what to do if silly suggestions were put in
• Children in Need is next month and we need to plan what to do as a school to support this event

Agreed actions:

• Everyone will do some research and gather fundraising ideas for Children in Need
• Everyone will make sure they have a suggestion box in their classroom

2022/23

School Council Discussions and Meetings:

Dojo shop, discussed different ways of rewarding children that involved less single-use plastic, and that would be within our budget.

New books for the library using the funds raised from last year’s book sale.

Tipi overview investigated with classes, checking the list of things to do before you are 11.

Pupil voice class boxes raising awareness of thoughts around the school: Picking up litter, sharing of class balls, outdoor activities put on Google Classroom for people to take part in if they wish - stickers or home-made badges for those who complete tasks.

2021/22

School Council Discussions and Meetings:

Supporting the Southbourne Parish Council Jubilee picnic.

Library book sale.

Dojo stock to change - ask all children what new items they would like to see in the shop

Queen's Platinum Jubilee - Southbourne Parish Councillor David James met with the school council regarding the 'Picnic in the Park' event on Sunday 5th June. Discussed games and advertising and how the whole school community can support the event.

2020/21

In 2021 we met when we could, although sometimes this was difficult because we were in year group bubbles! We held minutes outside, socially distanced, sharing our ideas and those of our friends in our class. We continued with our fundraising and sharing our thoughts and ideas with the staff.

2019/20

We’ve been busy this year! Here are the highlights…

We researched inspirational quotes to update the ones we already had, then created a shortlist for adults in school to vote for. Take a walk around school and read them.

Be the change you wish to see in the world. (Gandhi)

We organised a dressing up day and collection for Children in Need, raising over £200.

We were the first to see the suggestions for the new adventure playground, and it was our preferred designs that the rest of the school then voted for.

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We created questions that could be asked if people wanted to apply to be a teacher at our school.

We organised the new 4-square balls that last year’s School Council bought, making sure all year groups had a fair chance to play.

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We made sure that our classes were listened to in our meetings, by using our School Council suggestion boxes - we even managed to stop people moaning about the cloakrooms!

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