School Council

At St Gregory's we have a very active School Council. They meet as a group on the first Wednesday of each month. Following this meeting the two chair people meet with the headteacher to discuss what initiatives and suggestions the council would like considered. After lunch the chair people have a Zoom session with all the classes to feedback on what has been discussed and what things may be happening or changing as a result.

At the start of each academic year, during Parliament week,  our children elect their class representatives. This is a very popular post and many children will put themselves forward. They prepare a short presentation for their peers before a secret ballot takes place. 

Our Y4 member was elected on his promise to gain more resources, expertise and equipment for the 'Stone Age Club'. This club is very important to Y4 as it was started with a couple of founding members, following a history topic back at the start of Y3 and has gained in strength and popularity over time. 

Having been elected this Council Member has been faithful to his promises - he raised it at the School Council meeting, explaining how important the Stone Age Club was to Y4 and why they needed some expertise and resources to ensure their club could continue to flourish. It was presented to Mr Quigley, who after further discussions with some of the Club members, impressed with their commitment and enthusiasm, has ensured that measures are now being taken to ensure that this club can continue to flourish (with children from Gardening Club starting by pruning and tidying up the area).

Our School Councillors have brought forward a lot of ideas and suggestions. One of the most popular are the 'Special Days' that are held over the year.

Following the success of the Hello Yellow Day (which promotes a brighter future for young people's mental health) the children asked for a Hello Green day to raise awareness of the environment. This was a hugely popular event which ended with a fashion show - children modelling clothes made from recycled products.

Building on the theme of colours ... we even had a Rainbow Day where each class were assigned a colour and children were encouraged to wear clothing in that colour to celebrate our diversity. 

The children have also been responsible for the British Values day where children were encouraged to come to school in clothing representative of different countries and cultures. The intention is for these days to become annual events.

Perhaps one of the proudest achievements oif the School Council  was the improvement in the play equipment for EYFS and KS1.

Excited by the new KS2 adventure equipment, it was felt that the EYFS and KS1 equipment was looking very tired and in need of updating. The School Council members worked tirelessly over a sustained period to ensure that our youngest children had access to brand new equipment! The School Councillors were so excited when building began in the summer of 2022 and they saw their ideas brought to life.

Discussion about school clubs is always a favourite topic at meetings and the class representatives are always keen to ensure that their class has access to a range of different clubs. We now have Commando Joes, Art Clubs, Multi Skills, Gardening Club, Science club ... to name but a few. These happen both at lunchtime (when they are run by older members of school) and after school. Even though there are many clubs running, some class representatives noticed that access to clubs was not equal for all year groups. The councillors were able to identify reasons why this may have occurred but are keen to ensure that this issue is addressed. 

The Voice of the School Council is taken very seriously by the SLT and they will often bring questions to the Council Meetings for discussion eg how to improve the lunchtime experience as we all work together to keep St Gregory's flourishing!