Introduction

The Edinburgh Academy Junior School Pupil Council meets approximately every three weeks to discuss a range of issues which concern the pupils.

These meetings are chaired by Mrs Bashford but are also often attended by other teachers who have a specific interest in the day’s agenda items.

Elections

Each elected councillor represents one of the P3-6 classes and has the responsibility to air the views of their classmates and to report back to them after every meeting. This means that each and every child at the school can have their thoughts heard.

The pupil council have recently helped to choose a range of new playground equipment to be bought using Schools vouchers from Tesco and Sainsbury’s.

A meeting was held on Friday, 21 November 2008

All members of the council were present

Matters arising from last meeting:

• All classes had handed in their questionnaires – Mrs Bashford will look at the results and report back to the next meeting.
• It was disappointing to note that some children are NOT paying attention to notices given from their Pupil Council reps. This came to light that following a decision taken at the last meeting that children are still bringing balls to the Astroturf on a Tuesday and Thursday, when balls are BANNED.
• There should be no scrums / contact / rugby games taking place on the Astroturf. It is too dangerous. Children will lose GT if disobeying this rule.
• There should be no American footballs.
• Mrs Bashford has spoken with the kitchen staff about the concerns raised at the last meeting the following decisions were made:
• Fish will be on the menu every alternate Friday. A new type of fish is being sourced and it is hoped that more children will like this variety. Hamburgers will be on the menu every other Friday.
• There will be larger portions given to the older children and children have only to ask for larger portions, if still hungry.
• Parents will be invited in to taste the lunches next term.

House system

Mr Dean was welcomed to the meeting to hear the results of the recent survey about introducing a house system to the Junior School. The vote was overwhelmingly in favour of taking this forward. Mr Dean said he was willing to take this forward and he then invited suggestions from all council members.

• Advantages and disadvantages were discussed and the importance of tying this in with our current GT arrangements.
• Suggestions for various house events were put forward: hockey, netball, football, chess, concerts, dramas.
• House captains would be voted on by both staff and pupils. These would come from P6.
• Staff would be allocated a house.
• 1000 points to be given to each house as a starting point.
• Should happy / sad points be awarded?
• A particular focus might be adopted by the school, eg manners and during that limited period, children could earn house points.
• There should be a dedicated area in the classroom to display house points and the points awarded to each individual.
• Points would be added up every Friday and special mention made in assembly. The winning house each week could earn five minutes of extra playtime.
• Winning house would earn ‘a party!’
• Those, who managed to keep all their GT, could earn house points.

Mr Dean agreed to take all these suggestions away and bring back a plan of action to the next meeting. The next meeting will take place on Friday, 5 th December at 1 pm in the Science lab. A big thank you to Mr Zbikowski.