Article 12 of the UNCRC states that all children have the right to give their opinion and for adults to listen and take it seriously. We do this at St Mary’s through the School Council.

As part of the school’s recent focus upon the meaning of democracy and the importance of the right to vote, all the children in the school take part annually in voting for their own school councillors (1 boy and 1 girl).  The whole school also vote on which school councillors from year5 & 6 they would like to be the chair and vice chair of the school council.  Each year, some excellent candidates from Years 5 & 6 present to the whole school and explain the qualities and their priorities for improvements in the school. Then every pupil fills in a ballot slip and we choose our chair and vice-chair.

The chair and vice-chair will be responsible for being the public faces of the school council, explaining its work and its decision-making to visitors and the school generally. They will also be responsible for resolving issues in any school council voting and helping to set the agenda for the bi-weekly meetings of the council and work through many of the actions.