At Barrow Hedges Primary, we feel that pupil voice is an integral part of school life and our school council representatives are a great example of this.

What is a school council?

A school council is group of students who are elected to represent the views of all pupils and to help improve their school.

School Council is also an excellent way to show we are upholding the British value of democracy. A School Council is like a form of mini government where each year group has a spokesperson to vote on their behalf or bring forward any suggestions for the whole school and leaders to consider.

Who can be a school council member?

Each year group elects one boy and one girl representative to be members of our school council.

School council members need to be:

• Approachable and good at listening
• Organised
• Resilient even when things go wrong
• Respectful towards everyone’s opinions
• Collaborative with others
• Enthusiastic about their own ideas and others
• Confident enough to speak in front of other

What do the school council representatives do?

The main roles of a school council member are:

• Collecting the ideas and suggestions from their year group
• Attending school council meetings
• To inform their year group about what goes on in the meetings
• Discussing other year groups ideas with respect
• Being a good role model to others

It’s particularly important that each school council representative knows what is happening with suggestions made by their year group. It’s their job to let them know that their ideas are being taken seriously.

Visiting the Houses of Parliament

In July 2023, our school council representatives were invited to tour the Houses of Parliament. Whilst there, we explored the different meeting rooms and even saw where the Queen or King would prepare to speak in the House of Lords. After our tour, we were lucky enough to meet out local MP, Elliot Colburn, who answered all of our questions and truly inspired some deep conversation.