Pupil Voice

The Pupil Voice at Barnes Primary School gets louder by the year! At Barnes Primary School we want all of our children to have a voice. We are an open and inclusive school and through a range of groups and initiatives, we want our children to feel comfortable expressing themselves and knowing they can do this in a safe and supportive environment.

Two major elements of this are the Pupil Council and Food Focus Group are which overseen by Mr Brookes who also leads on matters connected to diversity and equality within the curriculum. This has covered areas like the yearly, school-wide Black History Month themes (including the arts, sport, music and STEM) as well as in-depth curriculum focus and book looks across the school.

Previous projects have also focused on celebrating the variety of languages other than English spoken by families in our Barnes community, including our Language of the Week initiative, What’s in A Name which gave children the chance to explore and share the meaning of their names and the addition of ‘Language’ badges for every multilingual child and adult in the school. We want children to value their own multilingualism and understand that this enriches learning, strengthens communication and helps students truly understand the world around them.

Collaboration between colleagues on this work has been key. Likewise, our parents and wider school community have a pivotal role to play and have already aided this by, among other things, fundraising for a Black History Book Corner.

In recent years, our Pupil Voice has grown to include a variety of groups and roles managed by other staff, including our school Eco Team, Sports Leaders and E-safety Team. Not to mention the Citizenship Award on offer to children in Upper Key Stage 2.

If you would like to support or simply find out more about Pupil Voice at Barnes Primary please don’t hesitate to contact Mr Brookes: tbrookes@barnes.richmond.sch.uk

The Pupil Council serves as the voice of the children. It is an elected body consisting of two groups of children: those in Key Stage 2 (7–11 years) and children in Key Stage 1 (5–7 years). Pupil representatives are given an opportunity to put forward their views about the school – the things they like and also, what they feel could be improved. They are given a genuine stake in decision-making at our school.

The Pupil Council has representatives from each class. These elected representatives – one boy and one girl – meet each half term to discuss issues that have been raised by their class. When planning new whole school developments, the Pupil Council are consulted – their ideas, views and opinions are sought. The children’s views and their concerns are always taken very seriously.    

As a part of our school’s work on Pupil Voice, two other children from each class are also elected as members of the Food Focus Group. These children meet with Mr Brookes, our catering providers, Caterlink, and the school’s head chef for the opportunity to feedback on school meals.

The food options and lunch experience that the children have are discussed in collaborative meetings. The meetings allow our caterers to share future menu ideas, as well as the children being able to share their own thoughts and feelings on what is being provided and what they’d like to see. A typical meeting includes feedback on that term’s menu, a chance to suggest and vote for special food Destination and Theme days, plus there’s usually an opportunity to taste test new menu ideas!

The meetings are open, productive and, much like pupil council, give children a genuine stake in how their school is operating.  

This is a popular project run in schools across the UK looking at the universal Rights of the Child. The aim is:

to create safe and inspiring places to learn, where children are respected, their talents are nurtured and they are able to thrive. Our Rights Respecting Schools Award embeds these values in daily school life and gives children the best chance to lead happy, healthy lives and to be responsible, active citizens.

Pupil Council helps act as a steering group for this work we do in school. Using the book, We Are All Born Free, this highlights UNICEF’s ‘Rights of a Child’ in a visual and easy to understand manner. Pupils chose ten rights, one of which will be focused on and highlighted every half-term. All classes also have a copy of this book, double-sided rights posters in their classroom windows and regular assemblies which look to highlight the connection between the rights of children and our time in school. We are already a Bronze accredited school and have much more planned for the near future.

The following video helps explain the award and its impacts.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GvIW_FUHN88