School Council - Developing democracy

Our aim is to deepen the Council's impact towards genuine participatory democracy to further develop our pupils, so that they are informed and engaged in all aspects of school life.

We are very aware of the profound effect adult views have on childhood agency, and therefore plan to create more opportunity for our pupils to feel empowered to express opinions without undue influence. This change aligns with the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, specifically Article 12, which guarantees children the right to express their views freely on matters affecting them.

Professor Laura Lundy's model is central to this development. By ensuring safe spaces, facilitated voices, a listening audience, and, critically, influence, Springmead aims to operationalise children's rights through the School. We are aware that power relations often skew towards adults and we plan to take steps to rebalance this by actively seeking and acting upon pupil feedback.

Our aim is to move beyond simply considering pupils' views to ensuring those views genuinely shape school policy and practice.

We are aware that we may need some training as a School to listen effectively and to understand the importance of respecting children's perspectives. By embedding these principles, we are building a school community where ethical symmetry prevails, and our children are active participants in their own education.

I hope you all agree that these are crucially important points and that you will join me in feeling excited about these changes and what they mean to our whole community.