Cowbridge School
Ysgol Y Bont Faen
School Council
The School Council is a body of students, with one male and one female representative from each year group, which meets twice on a half termly basis. The committee provides a meaningful way for students to voice their opinions, representing the views of all the pupils at Cowbridge School. Not only are these views taken into account in decisions which impact upon them, but the School Council also provides the students with an opportunity to generate new ideas to assist with the continuous improvement of the school. One major improvement has been how pupil voice has helped to produce the Proactive School Community Projects. The Head Boy and Head Girl then takes forward these initiatives and proposals to the school governing body meetings to allow strategic planning and action.
You Said, We Did- What we have achieved.
Estyn report 2019- School Council and the Proactive School Community project
How to apply to run an event at Cowbridge School through the School Council
1. Contact Mr Griffiths about speaking at a School Council meeting about your proposed event or project. You will be emailed the date of the next School Council meeting.
2. The School Council will then need to approve the event or project before the event goes ahead. This may be done verbally in the School Council meeting or through an email from Mr Griffiths.
3. If approved, book a planning meeting for your event or project with Mr Griffiths.
4. Begin setting in place the plans drawn up from the meeting above. This may include meeting with other members of staff or students.
5. Book a final meeting with Mr Griffiths just before your event or when the project starts. This is to check all points on the plan are met, so your event is successful.
Student Leadership
The school offers a significant number of opportunities for students to participate in leadership roles and responsibilities via a comprehensive range of activities (Rotary, bullying, mentoring, library, human rights, charity etc) committees (Healthy eating, Sports), awareness weeks, charity groups which complement and support the School council. The calendar organised by the students and supported by school staff have daily events and meetings which highlights high levels of sustained year on year engagement.
There are a wealth of leadership opportunities for students promoted via form tutor and class time. Prefects, Peer mentors, school council sub groups, anti bullying mentors demonstrate high levels of enthusiasm and participation beyond the formal curriculum.
“The school council is highly successful in engaging a wide range of pupils in its activities. This plays a key role in helping pupils to develop as confident, mature citizens” (ESTYN 2019)
The School Council and proactive school community projects and activities provides excellent opportunities for all pupils to have a strong voice, be ethically informed and demonstrate commitment and resilience to projects over time. These groups allow students to develop their leadership skills well and allows their peers to experience excellent leadership and organisational skills as modelled by them. We believe that this is a real strength of the school and the student council in collaboration with the Proactive School Community is highly effective in enhancing personal development.
ESTYN said of the Proactive School Council that, “The proactive school council has an outstanding impact on school life. It communicates clearly with all pupils through the use of year councils. In addition, it helps to organise an extensive range of activities to raise awareness of, for example, autism and human rights.”
The school promotes extensive, inclusive opportunities for leadership participation (for students) as outlined through the School Council enrichment activities outlined in the Council calendar. Assemblies and Form Tutor time are used well to reinforce school ethos and values, provide opportunity to inform and discuss wellbeing issues and celebrate achievement.
