“Pupils told me about the changes that they suggested and, where appropriate, the school has made them. They also told me about the ‘Rescue Crew’, where elected pupils help each other out, for example when they are upset, angry or want a playmate. Pupils told me . . . that they really appreciate the opportunity to take on such responsibilities, beaming with pride when wearing their responsibility sash and helping others.” – OFSTED, 2016.
We are the Ellen Tinkham School Council and we are very proud of our School.
We get together in groups at the School site and at the College to discuss all things that work well for us and also things that don’t. Amy Ley [Advocate] writes down all our thoughts and ideas and these are sent to the Senior Leadership Team to talk about.
Good Stuff We’ve Done
Our work has included helping design the playground at the school, providing ideas for the building of the hydropool and also making meal times better, and taking part in SENtient Trust meetings with other students from special schools from around Devon.
What next?
We enjoy our lunches but if there is anything we are not happy about, we want to know who we can speak to about this, so our voices and opinions are heard. We are also working with the Subject Leads giving our feedback about the learning in class and at home, how we access our learning and looking at online games and technology. ie if you struggle to physically write, could you use tech instead which listens to your voice and writes for you?
Current questions
- Who can we speak to on SLT regarding lunches?
- We need to find out more about technology on offer to help with our learning – who can we speak with?
We also look at the Federation Development Plan with Amy and read through the ideas and support which staff will be giving to us. Across the year, we can see whether this is happening and can tell Amy what we think about it.
All of us love taking part in the Student Council meetings and we think it is important we carry on meeting and talking about things in the School and the College that make a difference to us when we are here.
About the Student Council:
Champions for Change – “Listen, Hear, Understand”:
Our Student Council play an active role in the Devon Champions for Change group, where we meet with other students from across Devon to ensure all students are listened, heard and understood. Here’s the latest video: