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:
