In accordance with British Values, all children in the school are taught that is their right to vote, and the importance of living in a democracy. Each year, children in Year 2 to Year 6 can put themselves forward as their class school councillor. They each complete an application which states why they would like to be a school councillor and make a short presentation to their class. Once this stage is complete, each class votes on who they believe would best represent their call as a school councillor.
Senior members from Year 6 hold the following posts; Chair, Vice-Chair and Secretary. The children have the opportunity to meet with the members of the school staff and Governors. The children's voices are taken seriously and help shape decisions made at Whitehall Primary School.
Our new school council have been elected by their classmates and very excited to be representing their peers (you can spot them with their special purple pins):
Here are some things that school council have already been working on this year:
UK Parliament Week: November 2023:
We had a visitor who came in and led an assembly to teach us about Parliament. We learnt about the role of the house of commons and the House of Lords, how laws are created and how our votes help to elect members of Parliament.
Afterwards, the School Councillors had a special workshop where we learnt more about the jobs in the House of Commons and the similarities with our roles as school councillors: we also make decisions and changes for our school community.
We all thoroughly enjoyed this experience and we now have a far greater understanding of democracy, one of our British Values.
Pre-loved Book Sale
School Council choose AidBox as the charity to raise money for through a 'pre-loved' book sale. It is a local charity which supports refugees and asylum aseekers in Bristol.
Thanks to the very generous donations of our families, we raised £170 for Aid Box uk.
School Council were very proud to present the cheque from school.
Eco Brick Workshop
We were fortunate enough to have some special visitors:Dr Sara Williams who works at UWE and is looking at how children can understand more about environmental changes, Brick-It Bristol, who are working to educate people about how to recycle plastic through making eco-bricks which can then be used as a building material. We had a great afternoon learning about the different types of plastic and then we got to make our own eco- bricks! We are going to have an area set aside at lunchtimes for children to make eco-bricks.
MP Thangham Debbonaire visits Whitehall Primary
The School Councillors and the Rights Respecting Ambassadors met Thangham Debbonaire. They asked lots of great questions to learn more democracy and life as an MP.