x Guidance

How to Organise a School Council

Do you want to start a school council? Are you frustrated by how little your school council is currently achieving? Are
you unsure how to listen to your pupils’ voices? Do you want to develop strong communication and leadership skills
for your pupils? If any of these apply to you and your school, you should consider starting or relaunching a school
council.

What is a school council?

A school council is a group of pupils, normally elected by their peers, who act as representatives for their classmates. A
school council will discuss, and give their views, on a range of issues and is a good way for senior leaders to pay attention
to pupil voice. A school council also gives pupils a good understanding of elections and democracy - part of British
values teaching which is expected from schools. How the school council is organised and run depends on the school
and, in particular, the adults supporting the councillors.

How could you start a school council?

If your school has never had a school council before or if your school council has been ineffective, you will need to begin
the process of a ‘launch’. A launch is designed to get pupils in your school excited about the prospect of having a school
council, but also to understand what it means and how it will affect them (even if they are not the elected representative).

You will need to begin by publicising elections and building up an ‘image’ for your school council. There are many ways
that you can do this, for example by holding an assembly, launching a competition (designing a poster, badge, etc.) or
asking class teachers to introduce the idea of a school council and democracy in their PSHE lessons. It is important to
get your pupils excited about their school council and to take ownership of it - after all, it is their voices being heard!

This assembly PowerPoint will help you to introduce pupils to the idea of a new school council.

Next, you will need to hold elections. You may wish to make this a big event, perhaps in the style of a real general election,
where every pupil goes to the ballot box to vote for their representative. Winners could be announced in assembly,
through the school newsletter or via a display board - the decision is entirely up to you and what works best for your
school. Soon after announcing the winners of the election, while momentum is still high, you should hold your first school
council meeting.

Here are some useful teacher guidance notes to help with your school council election.

You might also find these ballot box signs and voting slips handy as part of your school council election process.

Why should schools have a school council?

• Article 12 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) says that children and young people
should have a say in decisions that affect their lives.
• School council enables pupils to have their voices heard by senior leaders which makes them feel empowered and
valued.
• Student councillors develop confidence along with leadership and communication skills.
• All pupils gain first hand experience of democracy which is one of the fundamental British values.
• A good school council can help to bring the school closer together as a community by organising events and projects.

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Who is involved?

Depending on the size of your school, you will need to select one or more pupils per class. If your school is very large, then
you may need to split school council meetings into key stages, or even year groups, to avoid overrunning and to ensure
every councillor gets to have their voice heard.

Your school council will need a chairperson, secretary and treasurer. Depending on the age and experience of pupils in
your school, you could appoint these roles yourself, the pupils could elect from within the group, or they could be teachers
or other members of staff.

If possible, it is advisable that a member of the senior leadership team attends the meeting. It could be difficult to find
time in the day to attend a school council meeting; however, in the long run, it will make your pupils feel their voices are
being heard and that school council can make a difference.

What could you discuss in your first meeting?

1. Constitution - Pupils should write a constitution for all the councillors to uphold. This could then be displayed on the
school council noticeboard or on your school website.
2. Aims - Ask the pupils what the priorities are in their classroom and introduce any of your own.
3. Budget - Make sure that your pupils are being realistic when it comes to what the school council can do with the school
budget.

How often and how long are meetings?

How frequently you hold meetings, and their length, is entirely at your discretion. As a rough guide, holding two meetings
per half-term, lasting 45 minutes each, appears to be about average. It is important to note that you should endeavour not
to cut into too much of your pupils’ normal day, for example asking that they miss lessons or playtime. To ensure that you
stick to 45 minutes, make sure that whoever is leading the meeting has a clear agenda and keeps to time.

This poster acts as a prompt for those chairing a school council meeting.

There are also useful templates for the meeting agenda and recording the minutes.

What happens after meetings?

It is important that there is a follow-up procedure after each school council meeting so that all pupils are kept informed
of what is happening in school council meetings. You may wish to keep minutes and then make these accessible for all
pupils via the school website, a school council noticeboard or another way that is appropriate for your school.

As a senior leader, you should follow up on as much as possible between meetings. If you follow things up consistently,
your presence at school council meetings (and school council itself) are likely to be taken more seriously and have a
more tangible impact.

This useful display pack will help you to promote pupil voice and the school council within your school.

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