Student Council

At BSSP, each year every class appoints a member to join the Student Council. It's a role that requires responsibility, one that can really promote positive changes throughout a school.

It's so interesting to be able to hear the voices of the students and understand what matters to them. They see the school on a different level to the teachers and parents, it's designed for them to become better after all, so of course having a voice on what can be done to make the experience even more enlightening and enabling is important.

Of course there might be a few ideas that don't quite take off the ground, we're still looking into a time machine to transport us back to the dinosaurs and there's still not chocolate cake being served every lunch time.

But there are some great ideas that have been brought to light during student council meetings. Change has been made by the class representatives sitting round a table with the Council Teacher and discussing ideas - from a Charity Week to alterations in how the salad is served in the canteen in order to stop food waste.

This is a democratic process, there's a budget for the group to spend, this has to be done wisely. What the children in Year 1 want might not necessarily be what those in Year 7 desire, so compromise has to be made, an understanding formed that people bring differing points of view and ideas to the table. These are life skills that children can take with them into other situations and scenarios.

Playing a game against the teachers might sound like a simple piece of fun on it's own, but incorporating into a week to raise money for Christmas boxes for the orphanages around the city is something else entirely.

It's led by both a teacher and our Head Student. Last year our Head Student played such an important role in our council that during her time on a GSL (Global School Leadership) programme run by COBIS, she was invited back this year to lead a discussion for thousands of schools around the globe about how to make a positive impact and on the importance of thinking big, being bold and not simply having ideas, but putting them into practice.