School Council
School Council representatives are elected annually with each year group having up to four new appointments. Pupils may put themselves forward for re-election at this time or take the decision to step down.
Election Process
These are generally in line with local and national elections. Therefore, giving pupils insight and awareness of campaigning, producing their own manifesto and the voting system.
The Role of Council
Weekly meetings are held in the Library, where council projects (i.e. reviewing school policies) are discussed, organisation of events, trialling new initiatives and systems.
Within the Council, each representative has his or her own designated role (i.e. link between governor reps and publicity reps).
The aim of these roles is to ensure that projects are run more effectively with pupils being given specific responsibilities.
Any project proposals are discussed at council meetings with new ideas coming from form reps or the suggestion box across all year groups and teachers within the school.
Once decisions on projects have been made, representatives of the School Council are selected to meet with the Headteacher to discuss feasibility and approval. In some cases, governor and PTA support are also required, i.e. changes in uniform or requirement of additional funding to fulfil projects.
All meetings have a written agenda and minutes taken, a recent development for School Council is a new section on the school website with links to Moodle (St. James’ School VLE) where agendas and minutes are available for viewing. A School Council blog is now visible on the Moodle homepage and is updated regularly.
The School Council now has its own email address for communication with form tutors and CMT.