How to get in touch with the School Council

If you have an idea or contribution, please speak to the student representative of your Year group or email: jocallaghan@theparkschool.org.uk

Welcome to The Park Community School’s School Council page

Here we hope to provide you with lots of information on what projects we are involved in and how Park students can have their input into the ‘running’ of the school.

Structure and organisation of the councils

• Our House and School Councils meet once every half term.
• Two students (one male and one female) from every Tutor Group represent their own ‘Tutor’ on their House Council. The students are elected to the House Council by their peers.
• The House Council meets – usually with their Deputy Head of House present – to discuss and sort out any issues or problems that have been identified by either themselves or their classmates. These may include issues around school lunches, behaviour, or ideas for fun events and/or fundraising events.
• Members of the House Council will be responsible for carrying out the ideas that have been agreed, and this includes, of course, taking whole school issues and ideas from their own House Councils and feeding them into the whole School Council.
• Two KS4 and two KS3 students from every House Council Meeting represent their House on the School Council. The students are elected to the School Council by their House peers.
• The School Council meets – usually with the Deputy Headteacher (Community and Student Support) of the School – to discuss and sort out any ideas, issues or problems that have been identified by the House Councils.
• The School Council will usually be managed by the four School Officers (Head Boy and Head Girl, Deputy Head Boy and Deputy Head Girl) who will undertake the responsibility of the following roles:
  • Chair
  • Vice-Chair
  • Secretary
  • Minutes Secretary

Decisions made within School Council can, and do, have a real impact on the rest of the school.

What has Park’s School Council been involved in most recently?

• They have worked with the governors to identify and purchase three new vending machines and one hot drinks machine for student use in and around the school buildings
• They have planned and held Bingo Afternoons for the local Senior Citizens
• They have organised and run the new Summer Fair for the past two years now; organising stalls and entertainment for all in the local community to engage
• Investigated, developed and managed the school’s environmentally friendly Recycling Project and Scheme for four years
• They have consulted students on proposed changes to uniform and fed views back to the SLT
• They engage fully with local democracy campaigns to affect change in the local community, such as meeting with Councillors and attending political debating events
• They have been involved in fund raising for various charities and decided on the charities to benefit.
• They run the annual UK Youth Parliament Elections across the whole school
• They host and Chair the Barnstaple Learning Community Shadow (Students’) Council

Members of our School Council are responsible for sharing the minutes of our meetings with class teachers and other students in their Tutor Groups in preparation for the next round of meetings.

The aim of the House and School Councils is to enhance the quality of school life for everyone.

Our objectives to achieve this are as follows:

• To give students a voice about issues that really matter to students and staff
• To help all staff, non teaching staff, governors and parents acknowledge and value the views of young people
• For young people to play an active role in the everyday running of the school
• To bring students together across all year groups
• To help young people to develop skills and build confidence and self esteem
• To benefit the school as a whole by improving the quality of life for all members of the school community.