Shout-Out for the Student Voice

The student council at Our Lady’s are a group of vibrant young people who don’t just want to ponder social issues, they want to actively be part of the solution - something we will only ever encourage. Assistant Headteacher, Mr Cope is the coordinator in school for the students to meet with and access support with their activism. So many children applied to join the student council that we decided to form several focus groups instead of just one council. They represent the voice of the students across school and are a vital to our continuing success.

voice is heard. They liaise with Mrs Morrison to organise student led recognition of Black History month, International Women’s Day, LGBTQ+ month and have an annual calendar of events and causes.

The diversity action team, are responsible for celebrating and elevating ALL of the community and making sure everyone’s

The welfare action team are concerned with making sure that our students can access support and guidance when they need it. They liaise with Miss Morson and implement support strategies to cope with exam pressures and any other wellbeing issues. They also work with our school PSHCE lead Mrs Riaz to oversee the themes of upcoming lessons and offer student feedback.

The eco sustainability action team are busy supporting our journey to carbon zero as well as other campaigns that prioritise environmental activism. This has included them taking on the role of lead school at the Manchester Green Bee conference, what a brilliant achievement! Mr Cope is their mentor and just as enthusiastic as the students about saving energy and promoting greater environmental awareness across school. The rewards action team make sure that the students are involved in engagement incentives. They were active in the creation of our e-coins rewards system and the trips and rewards associated with them. They are currently working out what our Easter rewards will look like alongside Miss Castle and Mrs Lancaster. Details of the most recent rewards trip can be found in this edition too.

Our communications action team, concentrate their efforts on the marketing and promotion of Our Lady’s, they want to advise the wider community of all the wonderful activities taking place at our school. They liaise with Miss Morgan on content for our social media platforms and utilise Google forms to gauge the student stakeholder voice. Across all of the different action teams the student council are involved with the recruitment of new staff to the school and meet with all potential candidates on their interview day. The council also meet regularly with the school leadership team and appraise them of the latest updates from their focus groups as well as being diligent full time students. These young people really are all the reassurance we need that the future is in very safe hands.