School Council Overview  

Oakland’s School Council exists to provide a platform for students to have their opinions heard, and inform major decision making. The key objective of the School Council is to “make the school better” through regular meetings, projects and Councillor involvement in all areas of school life. Councillors collect ideas from all members of the school community and have regular meetings with the leadership team.  The council is a group of elected students who represent the views of all pupils. They meet every week on a Wednesday morning, and have regular meetings with the school leadership team. They tell the leadership team about their ideas to improve the learning in the school.

Staffing

The School Council is facilitated by Mr Fazey. However where other staff have specialist skills and interests they are involved in the subcommittee system. The Council is led by year 11 Co-Chairs who put in an application to the Head teacher detailing their suitability.  

Representatives

Oaklands School Council consists of sixteen students, three from each year group (years 7-11) and one Councillor from year 12. Elections are held for School Councillors once in each academic year. The elections are done with a secret ballot, in the style of voting in the British general election. Fairness is paramount, and we strongly believe the election process adheres with the values of student ownership and British democracy.  The council has a chair which organises meetings, a Secretary who writes up the minutes and agendas and a Treasurer who manages the School Council budget. The Chair, Secretary and Treasurer are elected from the School Council.

Meetings

Meetings are held every Wednesday morning and further informal meetings (re project work) are held with selected Councillors when the need arises. Meetings are chaired by an elected member of the School Council. The School Council has its own constitution and the values of equal respect, democracy and fairness are adhered to at each meeting. All Councillors have an opportunity to express their opinions, and those of the form they represent.

How are student views filtered into school

Councillors’ feedback outcomes of meetings to their forms and in assemblies.

Impact

The School Council has had an impact on many areas of school life. A few examples are:

• The Council advised on the recent new build, adjustments made to the school behaviour policy (Class Dojos), proposed alterations to the school playground and the home school diary.
•  Councillors have regularly participated in the Winsford Pupil Forum (where they have worked on sculptures for Winsford Town Park to celebrate the town’s long association with salt mines), and designed a logo for Winsford schools
• Councillors have been instrumental in the delivery of our Remembrance Day assembly and selling poppies for the Royal British Legion.
• The council has been involved in interviewing candidates for teaching posts.
• Councillors raised money for Cheshire Down Syndrome Support Group through their Gingerbread Socks appeal.
• Organised a mock general election
• Attended a democracy day event
• Attended e-safety ambassadors training
• Entered The Speaker School Council Award with their presentation on refugees (Councillors were awarded with a We Make a Difference digital badge)
• The Council has been awarded UNICEF Rights Respecting School (RRSA) Bronze award

Development

The next set of meetings will be focused on the following achievable goal:

• Achieving the UNICEF Rights respecting school award (RRSA) by placing the rights of the child at the heart of the School’s ethos and curriculum.
• Promoting various charities throughout the school years, as a means to learn about challenging and topical issues and to benefit people in need
• Suggesting ideas to improve school life, with regards to policies, uniform, school building and play area