At St Joseph’s, we are extremely proud of all of our talented young people. Many students take part actively in the community and we believe that every child really does matter, which is why we believe so strongly in pupil voice. By our students voicing their opinions and suggestions, we can implement these into greater benefit for the whole community.
In recent surveys, pupils highlighted that they would like to see more benching, more disposal bins and water machines. These requests were taken to the school council and implemented! Several new benches arrived for the Social Area of the Yard, as well as more disposal bins around our site. New water machines have been installed in the Brady Centre, the Yates Building and the corridor of our main site building.
Pupil voice is very much a vehicle for improving Learning and Teaching at St Joseph’s. Teaching staff are trained to regularly check for understanding and ensure that there is no ‘hidden child’ in the classroom. Pupils and staff regularly evaluate their work, and pupils often complete questionnaires in lesson, either formally as a written questionnaire, or informally as a class discussion. This allows for regular review and improved shared understanding. Pupil Voice activities also form part of our Quality Assurance programme and Heads of Department and Senior Leaders will regularly (min 4 times a year) carry out Pupil Voice activities so that we can ensure that the perspective of all members of our community help drive on-going improvement at St Joseph’s.
This is all God wants from You: Act justly, love tenderly, walk humbly with your God…
Be Just and Fear Not. This is what PVSJ (Pupil Voice St. Joseph’s) strongly believe in.
Some of our Year 11 students will be working with each Year 7 pupil as their personal peer mediators.
All of our peer mediators have completed appropriate specialist training.
All issues will be dealt with confidentially and sensitively.
Our Mediators complete their training in the autumn term.
Prefects play an important role in the daily life of the school.
All Year 11 students have the opportunity to put themselves forward as potential prefects.
Prefects provide supervision at lunchtimes at various locations around school, help as Sports Leaders and run the Peace Lounge.
Prefects wear a prefect badge at all times. Year 11 relinquish their duties after Easter, allowing them to prepare fully for their final GCSE examinationa and from Easter up until July, Year 10 students take over their duties.
Prefects’ Code of Practice
As a prefect I undertake to fulfil my duties conscientiously and politely, always having regard and respect for others.
In the course of my duties I will attempt to:
a) be polite in my dealings with students and staff;
b) be fair in my dealings with students;
c) be punctual at all times;
d) be responsible in my behaviour both in and out of school;
e) be active in covering the area of the school allocated to me;
f) be active in my support of teachers who are supervising my area;
g) be helpful and polite to the welfare staff who supervise lunchtimes;
h) be smart at all times and an example to other members of the school and wear my badge prominently and with pride;
i) be responsible for finding a replacement if I am unable to undertake a duty on a particular occasion.
Our School Council is at the very heart of Pupil Voice here at St. Joseph’s. The Council is led by our Co-ordinator of Pupil Voice, along with our Senior Students and Senior Prefects.
We also have representatives from each year group who attend the executive meetings and two people from each form who act as liaisons between tutor groups and the executive council.
Recent work of the school council include the introduction of water machines in school and the introduction of new benches on our school yard.
Election at St Joseph’s
The elections take place in November. There are candidates from each year group.
Year 11 organised the administration of the election, getting the names of the voters and giving them their ballot papers. All students were reminded of the importance of democracy and its’ benefit to society and, having checked out the names the previous day, voted for their chosen candidate.
A number of years ago the School Council voted to have a ‘no name’ policy to ensure that the best candidates were chosen and some people were able to stand, even if they didn’t succeed, because they wouldn’t feel singled out if they didn’t get elected.
The role of School Council is very important in the school, they quietly get on with jobs such as representing students on the interview panels of most jobs in the last three years, ensuring the Governors know what students think and feel about specific issues, particularly to do with teaching and learning and raising issues with the Headteacher and the Senior Leadership Team that students are concerned about.
School Council meets on the second Monday of every month as an executive committee. At the meeting we discuss any issues from the previous month and we are often asked by the Governors to talk to the students, asking them questions, which are then fed back. The Year Group Council meet once per month too. These meetings are supported by the year 11s but arranged by the year group representatives. The aim is to encourage communication, particularly to help our school to be the best it can be.
We hope you can celebrate our successful candidates this year:
Year 7:
Year 8:
Year 9:
Year 10:
