Pupil voice

Pupil voice at Millfields Primary School is a whole-school commitment to listening to the views, wishes and experience of all children. It means placing value on what children tell our staff about their experiences.

At Millfields Primary School, we believe that encouraging our pupils to participate in pupil leadership roles helps them to develop a range of personal skills and qualities, that align with our vision and ethos, along with benefiting the children and the wider school community.

There are many leadership opportunities for pupils to contribute to the life of our school. These include:
- School Council
- Eco Council
- Sports Council
- Librarians

Members of staff oversee each of the pupil leadership roles and follow an application process when appointing new pupil leaders. Regular meetings are held throughout the academic year to continually develop and sustain a positive impact across the school and beyond.

School Council
How did the school councillors get elected?
This year some of the school councillors got elected in a different way than in previous years. Year 1 to year 5 did what we would do each year which is writing a speech or doing a PowerPoint and presenting it to their class. Then, every child in that class would get 2 votes each and 2 people would get chosen as the school councillors from each class.

As for the Year 6s , we first had to write something or make a PowerPoint and then present it to our class. After that, we voted and 4 people were left. We then had about a week to edit and make posters to help us get voted.  After a while, each person got a chance to share their presentation in front of the whole school. Later that day, everyone from the school got a chance to vote, you might be wondering how did we vote with such a big amount of people? Well the teachers printed a paper that had all the people who did their presentations on it so when a person would come to vote in the voting station, they would only have to tick next to the person they wanted to be a school councillor. The next day, we all gathered together and found out who had been voted.  And that is how the school councillors got voted and elected. (Written by Masah, Year 6) 

Our meetings
Our school council meetings are held weekly and pre-organised by the Secretary and Chair. During the meetings we use our 30 minute time slot wisely and follow our agenda and ,if possible, talk about AOB (Any Other Business.) The meetings are led by the Chairperson as well as the Vice Chair while the Secretary takes all relevant notes and types them into minutes to ensure the proper documentation of what happens in our meetings; The meeting is also supervised by Mrs Smith to guide the meetings and ensure they are run smoothly. (Written by Albie, Year 6)

Roles on the School Council
The roles on the School Council are very important. We have four main roles which are chairperson, vice chair, secretary and finance. We voted for these in our first meeting of the year.The chairperson leads the weekly meetings we have on the school council and makes sure everything is running smoothly. The vice chair assists the chairperson in their job and leads the meetings when the chairperson isn’t there. The secretary takes notes of the meetings and records them on the minutes. These are displayed by the office for anyone who wishes to read them. This year we also have a vice secretary. The student in the finance role focuses on how much money ideas the school have come up with will cost. (Written by Florence, Year 6)

What we have achieved/been working on this year
This year in the school council, we have been busy working on many, many things, such as, improving the school dinners and desserts; our feedback from the children in our school showed we needed to make some improvements to make our school menu more enjoyable for our pupils. We also met up with Mrs Sparrow to put forward our other suggestions, about making themed lunches: Halloween, Christmas, Easter, Chinese New Year etc. Our head chef at our school (Mrs. Revett) agreed with these suggestions and has made some changes to the menu and we are looking forward to trying out the themed lunches in the future! Another one of our ideas were suggestion boxes, we have agreed to have one in every one of our classrooms. Our idea is so that students are able to suggest any ideas and they can even do it anonymously. These have been the three that have been actioned so far. (Written by Chloe, Year 6)

Eco Council
The Eco Council at Millfields has recently initiated its meetings, marking the beginning of a concerted effort to address the issue of waste generation within our school community. One of our primary focal points is analysing the waste produced both by the school itself and by other students. We are going to explore ways to enhance our recycling practices and minimise our environmental footprint. Additionally, we are working on ideas to keep our playground clean and litter-free. 

Sports Council
Millfields primary school sports council serves as a pupil-led body dedicated to fostering a vibrant sports culture within the school community. Their responsibilities encompass organising various sports events such as inter-class competitions and sports days, advocating for the importance of physical activity, and representing pupil voices regarding sports and physical education. Additionally, they assist in maintaining sports equipment and facilities, ensure inclusivity in sports activities, and promote values of sportsmanship, fair play and physical literacy among children. Ultimately, the sports council plays a pivotal role in encouraging active and healthy lifestyles among their peers while creating an inclusive and enjoyable sporting environment within the school.

Librarians
How  did we became librarians?
We had to write a letter to Mrs Smith telling her why we would be good for the role of librarian. She chose based on how we wrote it and judged if we were passionate about it. She chose:
Y6M Magdalene and Florence.
Y6F Chloe and Bruno.
Y5 Frankie, Florence, Jessica and Daisy.
Y4 Wolfy and Isla
Y3 Iris
We are all very happy that we got chosen to be a librarian!

What do we do in our meetings?
Although our meetings are rare, we do have some. In our first meeting we got matching Librarian notebooks, arranged a book fair and spoke about what we would do on World Book Day. After World Book Day, our meetings are mostly about organising the books in our school library. In the next few weeks we will be ordering some new books for the library and designing posters for the walls. 

Pupil Voice Link Governor - Mrs Libby Britcher