School Council

Introduction to the School Council 

The School Council meets every half term. The children discuss a variety of topics and share their ideas about how the School Council can support improvement initiatives for the school. 

 

The School Council is led by Miss Lucy Waterland and is supported by Mrs Suzanne Clarke, Governor.

Wednesday 2^nd May 2018

 

At this School Council meeting we did a walkabout of the school playground to decide which features the children particularly liked about the existing playground and what suggestions they had to make it even better. The children from the council are going to gather feedback and ideas from their peers to ensure that every child has had an input.   

 

At our next meeting, we are going to sit down with Mrs Bitcon to share our ideas and also look through the architect’s plans for the playground development.

Wednesday 28^th February 2018

 

This week the School Council met to discuss World Book Day and the children decided that they would like to create a survey to find out where people’s favourite place to read was. They created a recording sheet and the representatives from each year group carried out the survey with their class.

 

The Year 4 children collated the data and the council then considered how we could link this to our school environment. The children took suggestions back to their respective classes with ideas for the book corners.   

Wednesday 13th September 2017

This was the first School Council meeting of the new school year and we were very pleased to be joined by Mrs Clarke who is our Governor Representative. The main purpose of the meeting was to introduce ourselves and meet the new team.

 

Miss Waterland reminded the children about our Superpillar focus in school. As a council, the children chose to focus on Shadow’s powers of being a team player and specifically showing respect. The children said they would like to do this by helping people who have been affected by hurricane Irma (which was discussed in assembly on Monday). The children shared ideas to raise money, including a bake sale or bringing in a donation to dress up. We decided as a group that it would be a good idea to dress up as superheroes (or Superpillars!) and invite the parents in to take part in a Superhero themed walk as part of our Daily Mile. The children said they would like to be in charge of collection tins for any extra donations from the parents.

 

Miss Waterland will speak to the other members of staff to arrange a possible date and the children are going to ask the rest of their class for any other fundraising ideas.

Friday 18 March 2016

The School Council representatives from Year 3 and 4 were not able to attend the meeting as they were at a Tag Rugby Tournament.

 

The main purpose of the meeting was to make posters to go up in the classrooms to remind the children to take care of the things we have in school. 

 

Mrs Duke informed the children that she had registered the school to take part in the "Build a Den" day in aid of the charity "Save the Children".  The children said they were excited about it and, because it would be summer time (17 June), they would like to build the dens outside.  They also liked the idea of building the dens in house groups so that older and younger children could share their ideas.

 

Mrs Duke offered to look after the posters until the next meeting ,when the representatives from Y3 and Y4 would be back, so that everyone could finish them.

Friday 11 March 2016

Mrs Duke explained that, since the last meeting, one of the Y3 representatives had left our school and suggested that Y3 could discuss this to see whether anyone was keen to join.

 

Some of the School Council felt that people were not taking enough care of the toys in school.  Others also commented on broken rulers, pencils and rubbers.  After some discussion it was decided that the School Council could make posters to be displayed in the classrooms encouraging children to look after the equipment and play things we have around school.  Several children pointed out that if children break or spoil things, the school will not always be able to afford to buy new things.

 

The children said that once the posters were prepared, the school council members would present them to the rest of their class and explain why they had made them.

 

Mrs Duke showed the children some literature which had been sent to school from Save the Children Fund.  The charity proposed a "Den Day" for 17 June so that, in return for a donation, the children could build dens in school and raise money for the charity.  All the children thought this was a great idea.   

School Council Minutes - Friday 20 November 2015

 

The children discussed Children-in-Need and were very pleased to find out they had raised £165.40 for charity.  They had all enjoyed dressing up as their favourite hero or superhero and also discussed how they could be heroes for other children by helping them.

 

The council thought about which charity events they would like to take part in during December - Christmas Jumper Day or the NSPCC Bobble Hat Day.  After a vote, it was decided to support the NSPCC Bobble Hat Day this year.

 

Mrs Duke asked whether there were any issues about school life that the children wanted to raise.  The children did not think there were any and agreed to talk to others in their respective classes.

 

Mrs Duke shared with the children the different qualities which go together to make a good school councillor - a good listener, trustworthy, happy, helpful, committed, honest, reliable, able to work in a team, want to make changes, confident, a good talker, caring and having good ideas.  The children agreed with these qualities and it was decided that they would think about these qualities and discuss them further at the next meeting.

 

School Council Minutes - 16 October 2015

On Friday the School Council held its first meeting of this school year.  The elected pupils are: Megan and Robbie (Y4), Jayden and Brett (Y3), Luke and Anya (Y2) and Mackenzie and Bella (Y1).

 

The children discussed what the School Council did and talked about the different charities they would like to support this year.  The children were keen to support Christmas Jumper Day again (Save the Children, Macmillan, Make a Wish) and NSPCC Bobble Hat Day.  As both these events are in December Mrs Duke offered to speak to Mrs Bitcon before deciding as it may be too much to do both events before Christmas.  The children also said they enjoyed baking Pudsey Bear biscuits last year for Children in Need.  They also talked about sending boxes of gifts for Christmas to children in other countries.

 

The Council also discussed the climbing equipment and said they thought it would be a good idea to have a rota for the climbing frame again.

 

The children agreed to chat to the other children in their classes about the school and what they liked and what they think we could do better.

School Council Minutes - Weds 18 March 2015

The children discussed Comic Relief Day and said they had enjoyed having their photos taken, some with their parents.

 

Mrs Duke reminded the children that the Marie Curie daffodil bulbs were still growing in the Base play area and were probably ready to be sold.  Mrs Bitcon had suggested that they might be sold on Friday 27 March as we would be celebrating World Book Day and the School Council would be able to hold a coffee morning and sell the daffodils at the same time as the opening of the new Hobbit House.

 

The School Council thought that a note needed to be sent out to parents so that those who could not attend the coffee morning could send in money to buy a bulb.  They discussed how to make the pots look more attractive by putting on labels supplied by the Marie Curie Charity and some children volunteered to make posters over the weekend to advertise the coffee morning and sale.  The School Council then discussed the preparations that would need to be made for the coffee morning.

 

The children were also excited by the prospect of witnessing the solar eclipse on Friday and discussed how they might look at it safely and why the sun would look the same size as the moon.

 

 

School Council Minutes - 21 January 2015

Mrs Duke asked the children if they had had time to look at the School Council notice board to see the picture clipping from the newspaper showing the school planting bulbs for the Marie Curie Charity.  The children were pleased that there had been a picture in the newspaper.  The children discussed how they should be looking after the bulbs and decided to check on them during playtime this week.  The children also discussed the arrangements for a coffee morning when they hope to be able to sell the bulbs.  A decision on the date will be made after the growth of the bulbs had been checked and Mrs Bitcon consulted.

 

Mrs Duke informed the children that the next charity event that they may want to take part in was Children in Need in March.  The children were interested and Mrs Duke agreed to bring more information to the next meeting.

 

Mrs Duke asked if the children had any issues about life at school they wanted to discuss.  The children discussed possible ideas to improve the playground.

 

 

 

 

 

School Council Minutes 19-11-14

The children discussed the possibility of having more sport in school, particularly swimming and football.  They talked about how sport is good for keeping us fit and that girls need to keep fit just like boys.  The children thought they might like to have more sports clubs after school.

 

The children also spoke about having a Baking after school club.  Mrs Duke explained that the teachers sometimes changed the after school clubs so that the children could try different things.

 

The children said they had looked at the School Council notice board and were pleased that they would be taking part in Christmas Jumper Day.

 

School Council Meeting - Weds 22 October 2014

 

The main theme of the meeting this monty was charities.  The children talked about what charities were for and what they did.

 

Mrs Duke told the children about the Marie Curie Charity  and said that this year it had been agreed that the the school were going to help this charity by planting daffodil bulbs and then selling the flowers.  She asked the children to think about how they might sell the daffodils.

 

The children agreed that they would like to take part in the Save the Children Christmas Jumper Day again this year.  Mrs Duke said she would find out more about the date for this event and tell the children at the next meeting.

 

School Council Minutes - 8 October 2014

New members of the School Council have now been elected.  They are:

Year 1 - Emily and George

Year 2 - Leah and James

Year 3 - Charlie, Robbie and Hermione

Year 4 - Reece, Madison, Harvey and Teya

 

As this was the first meeting for this academic year, the children began by introducing themselves, saying why they had volunteered to be on the School Council and explaining what they thought the School Council was for.

 

Mrs Duke told the children that one of the Council's roles was to decide on which charities to support.  She asked the children to think about this ready for the next meeting.

 

School Council Minutes - 18 June 2014

One of the children reported that there was a lot of dog mess trodden into the pavement all along Cherry Orchard.  Mrs Medcalf said she would make Mrs Bitcon aware of this so it could be reported to the Council who would come and clean it up.

 

Mrs Medcalf asked the children if they had got used to the slightly longer morning session; they said they had.

 

It was reported that some pupils were still bringing in loom bands and talking about selling and swapping them.  Parents have been sent a text reminding them that no bracelets of any description should be brought/worn in school.  Mrs Medcalf said that perhaps children could be reminded in assembly.

 

The children reported that play equipment was not always being put out at lunchtime.  Mrs Medcalf said she would look into this.

 

School Council Meeting - 9 May 2014

Mrs Medcalf informed the School Council that the new team boards had arrived and all children would be told their teams before half-term.

 

The children were concerned that break time did not seem long enough now that the morning session has been extended.  Mrs Medcalf suggested that a 5 minute warning bell could be rung enabling children to get back to class and eat their snack and then another bell rung to signal the start of play so that everyone had the same amount of time.

 

The children discussed the possibility of being able to choose their own partners in maths.  Mrs Medcalf explained that there were many reasons why children were assigned to work with different people.

 

The children asked about the hobbit house and the other recommendations they had made for the playground.  Mrs Medcalf told them the base for the house had been laid and the trees had all been cut back; the children agreed this had made an improvement.  Mrs Medcalf said she would speak to Mrs Groom to appoint a lunchtime supervisor to open the PE store and take out play equipment and be responsible for checking it and putting it away.  The children said they liked it when Mrs Wheatley played games and organised hurdles races.

 

Another suggestion was to hold more of the Ready Steady Cook Assemblies.

 

Finally, it was suggested that we hold a fund raising "Water Aid" day following the awareness of drinking water raised in assemblies.  Mrs Medcalf agreed to speak to Mrs Hadley regarding a joint project as school is keen to get a Green Flag Award.

 

 

School Council Meeting - 31 March 2014

 

The School Council met with Mrs Bitcon to talk about their recommendations for improvements to the school playground.  Suggestions for improvement were discussed and Mrs Bitcon gave the members a task to complete before work could commence.

 

Mrs Bitcon showed the children a "hobbit house" which school are buying to use as an additional area that children can use for quiet time and a story telling setting.

 

Team names were also discussed and after some debate it was decided that we would have 3 teams, with 2 teachers allocated to each team, with the idea that for sports events there would be 6 teams competing at any one time (2 groups from each team).  Trees were chosen as suitable team names.

 

School Council Meeting - 24 March 2014

 

Today, the School Council went into the playground to assess usage and suggest areas for improvement.

 

Problems:

Ball shooter too high, especially for the younger children.  Also balls are not always available for use.

 

Role play house - can it be played in?

 

Musical instruments need improving/repairing.

 

Area needs tidying and several trees need attention.

 

Improvements:

Could stage area be painted to make it more attractive.

 

Side of PE store made more attractive/useful by adding blackboards, height chart and/or information posters.

 

Use sensory garden as a quiet reading area - maybe attach baskets to the wall where children could safely leave their books if they want to go off and play.

 

Paint a target on the wall near Year 4 for ball games.

 

Develop a course (similar to low level ropes at Malvern OEC) whereby children have to get from the climbing stack to the traversing wall then back to the equipment.

 

Install some large tyres for extra climbing opportunities.

 

Could what was going to be the new Forest School Area be developed to extend available playing space.  Children recognised that there would need to be a lunchtime supervisor assigned to this area.

 

Children would like to see boxes of toys available on different days.

 

A lunchtime supervisor made responsible for putting out equipment and overseeing its responsible use and return, ensuring all items are accounted for (with support of children) so loss and damage is kept to a minimum.

 

 

School Council Minutes - 11 March 2014

 

Mrs Orban joined the meeting to collect the childrens' opinions regarding lunchtime arrangements.  The majority of children said they preferred lunch in two sittings.  Mrs Medcalf and Mrs Orban reminded the children that they should all be eating breakfast and bringing a healthy snack to school. 

 

Playtime arrangements were discussed; lunchtime supervisors were not able to play with the children because it was difficult to supervise and play at the same time.  Mrs Medcalf has started to put out books and games on the tables outside Year 4 and, as the weather improves, the children will be able to play on the field.

 

Mrs Orban asked the School Council to find out what activities children would like to have out at lunchtime and also think about zoning the playground with a view to its best possible use.  It was agreed that the School Council would look at this on Monday 24 March as Mrs Medcalf and the Year 4 children would be away on the residential trip on the 17th.

 

School Council Meeting 12 February 2014

Mrs Medcalf shared a photo which had appeared in the Pershore Journal of Jeremy Strong and the Cherry Orchard children following the author's visit to school.

 

The School Council had been asked by  a Y4 pupil to consider a "buddy" system to operate at play and lunchtimes.  Children agreed it was a good idea but were not sure how it would work.  After some discussion, Mrs Medcalf said the idea would need further consideration.

 

The children were shown a poster advertising the Sport Relief Mile.  Mrs Bitcon would like as many staff, children and parents to take part as possible in this event which is being organised by Pershore Town Council.  It will take place on Sunday 23 March in Abbey Park.  Most members of the School Council thought their families would participate in this.  Further information will be sent out to parents.

 

Mrs Medcalf informed the Council that school would be introducing a house system.  Children were unfamiliar with how this would work but were aware that similar systems operated at Middle School and in Harry Potter.  Mrs Medcalf asked the children to suggest house names; some ideas included authors, trees, artists, birds of prey, astronauts and inventors.

 

Mrs Medcalf showed the children an electronic Top Trumps game that she had been given.  She explained that it was played as a tournament with the winning pupil to play other schools online.  Mrs Medcalf said she would read the instructions over half-term and feed back with further information.

School Council Meeting - 14 January 2014

Mrs Medcalf thanked the children for their participation in Christmas Jumper Day and informed them that £100 had been raised.  The children then discussed which charities they would like to support in the Spring and Summer Terms.  Mrs Medcalf suggested Sport Relief which is celebrated on 21 March; she thought it would be a good idea to do a sponsored activity so children could improve their fitness as well as supporting a good cause.  The children had various favourite charities - many of them animal charities.  Amelia suggested WWF as the school could adopt an animal and wear wildlife onesies.

 

The children discussed the new lunchtime arrangements - many agreed they were better because there was more space but you still had an opportunity to see friends from other year groups at the end of lunchtime.  Lexi said she was very hungry; Mrs Medcalf said we needed to ensure that all children were eating a healthy snack at breaktime to sustain them until lunch.  Mrs Medcalf will speak to Mr Komor, Mrs Coaker and Mrs Clargo and also put a sign up in the window to remind parents.

 

Mrs Medcalf asked the council members whether they thought children would like a selection of books on the picnic tables at lunchtime.  Different views were given and it was decided to organise a trial period and assess the impact.

School Council Meeting - 10 December 2013

 

Mrs Medcalf reminded the children that the author Jeremy Strong would be visiting school on 27 January 2014.  There  are a number of his novels in Year 4 which children are currently reading; Year 3 children are also welcome to borrow these books.

 

Christmas Jumper Day will be celebrated in school on Thursday 19 December and all children and parents have been informed so we hope there will be a lot of support for this charity.

 

School Council have also been tasked with finding out how many children take part in out-of-school sports activities.  Members of the School Council will be visiting all the classes on Tuesday to gather this information.

 

 

School Council Minutes - 15 November 2013

 

Mrs Medcalf confirmed that the author Jeremy Strong would be visiting school on 27 January 2014.  He will be talking to KS1 and KS2 and will also do book signing.

 

The School Council discussed the problems encountered in the ICT suite; Mrs Medcalf said that she hoped that these issues had been sorted out this morning as the ICT technician had visited school.  All the headphones have now been been replaced.

 

The children then discussed the possibility of getting involved in Christmas Jumper Day on Friday 13 December.  They thought this would be very worthwhile in light of the devastating typhoon in the Philippines.  Mrs Medcalf suggested that pupils could wear something they already had or decorate an old jumper.  She will speak to Mrs Bitcon about this.

 

 

 

School Council Minutes - 21 October 2013

 

Mrs Medcalf said that since the last meeting several things had happened in response to their suggestions on how to raise awareness of reading:

 

• Mrs Bitcon had designed and purchased some postcards to be used for recommending books to other children.
• Tents had also been purchased.  These were to be used as quiet areas for reading.  The School Council suggested making signs to remind others that these tents were for quiet reading only.
• Mrs Medcalf had checked that all classrooms had a reading challenge with a consistent reward scheme.
• Mrs Medcalf has emailed the author Jeremy Strong regarding a visit to school - she is awaiting a response.

 

The School Council discussed which charities they would like school to support this year.  They agreed that we should support Children-in-Need on 15 November, one suggestion was to dress as a teddy and bring a teddy to school.  The children will bring all their ideas to the next meeting.

 

Cameron asked if we could have a book swap in school and Mrs Medcalf offered to try and find a suitable date.

 

School Council Meeting - 30 September 2013

 

Importance of Reading

The members of the School Council discussed how to raise awareness of the importance of reading in school.  Suggestions included - a consistent reward system in each class, raising the profile of World Book Day, an author visit (suggestions included Julia Donaldson and Michael Morpurgo) - School Council will write an invitation, having more books that children want to read (sports, language).  Tyler thought we could have a suggestion box whereby children could recommend books of interest.  Mrs Medcalf agreed to ask the Friends if they would be able to use some of their funds for this purpose.

 

Mrs Medcalf suggested that a Book Club could operate during lunchtimes where children could be given a quiet space to read their own books or a storytime session for the younger children.  Amelia thought the older children could share books with younger children in a "book buddies" system.

 

Lexi suggested that children are taken to Pershore Library by school staff after school and collected from the library - a sort of after school club at the library.

 

September 2013

Our new representatives for the School Council have now been elected!  They are:

 

Year 4 - Amelia, Tommy, Cameron and Carl

Year 3 - Paige, Tyler and Lexi

Year 2 - Ed and Millie S

Year 1 - Cerys

 

Last year the School Council worked very hard to achieve our aim of improving lunch and playtime provision which culminated in the installation of the climbing stack and the 4-way shooter.  School Council were also involved in fund-raising for our chosen charities - Comic Relief was particularly memorable as we raised over £300 from the sale of red noses and for coming to school in our pyjamas!  Some of the School Council members were also involved in interviewing candidates for the position of the new Year 1 Teacher.  We were all very impressed with Miss Sinclair and hope she will be very happy at Cherry Orchard.

 

This year the School Council have been tasked with raising awareness of the benefits of reading.  We will also be looking at safety - do children feel safe at all times and in all situations at school?  Attendance is another issue we will be investigating.  We want to raise the profile so that attendance matters to all children and parents.

 

School Council will meet on the first Monday of every month.  If you have an issue or concern that you would like to bring to the School Council's attention, please speak to Mrs Medcalf or a class representative.

 

 

Cherry Orchard School Council

"The Pupils Voice"

Welcome to Cherry Orchard First School Council.

If you have any suggestions or views you think the School Council could help with talk to Mrs Medcalf or the council representatives

Elections have taken place. Your new councillors for this school year are:

Anais, Sam, James, Niamh (Year4)

 Cameron, Josh M (Year 3)

 Lily, Aleisha (Year 2)

We have an active School Council.

So far this year we have:

• Discussed the provision of playtime and lunchtime activities with a view to enhancing these facilities. We are considering replacing and updating the equipment available for children to play with.
• Held a special assembly to talk about the safe use of playground equipment. We demonstrated misuse and the correct use of play equipment and talked about the importance of respecting and returning the school’s equipment in the correct manner to avoid loss and breakage.
• We met with the Governors for the opening of the new Library and enjoyed refreshments whilst representing the school.
• We will be talking to children and adults to find out how they think Lunchtime play could be enhanced. We will hold a survey so that all opinions are taken into account.
• We will also be questioning pupils to find out which charities they would like to support. In previous years we have supported Children in Need and Comic Relief. This year we want to find out if people still wish to support these or should we consider other charities such as are the World Wildlife Fund, Air Ambulance, Cancer Research UK or more locally St Richard’s Hospice and the Tracy Sollis Leukaemia Trust. We would welcome further suggestions .

We hold meetings regularly so that the pupils have a chance to put forward ideas and questions.