Pupil Voice & Empowerment Project
We value all of our pupils opinions and as an Autism Accredited school we feel it is important to understand, listen to and support our young people; giving them a voice.
Pupil Voice involves one pupil who volunteers from each form group (not voted in) who acts as a representative in the meeting, gathering ideas from their class and then feeding back. Primary, Secondary and Post 16 pupils are all involved. Meetings are held once every half term. To specifically understand and meet the needs of our Autistic pupils, there is a good representative of members in the group who have a diagnosis of 'ASC'. Meetings are organised and facilitated by staff from different departments across the school.
Although meetings are kept quite informal, we usually have an agenda to help focus relevant discussions and record outcomes. We encourage skills such as listening to each other, taking turns, being relevant, compromising and tolerating others. All members in the group are given the opportunity and support to contribute to Pupil Voice.
We meet to discuss different aspects of teaching and learning and particularly how this impacts on pupils who are on the Autistic Spectrum. We also talk about other important day to day aspects of school pupils feel are important to them, for example social issues. We involve our pupil voice team is discussions and decisions around school topics such as school rules and choice of new school chairs, encouraging a vote around the table.
Many of the topics that we have discussed so far have resulted in positive changes and developments around the school. Here are some examples of what we have discussed:
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What Pupil Voice talked about: |
What has been done about it? |
|---|---|
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Assembly is too long |
A clock has been put up in the hall so staff are more aware of what time it is. |
|
Lunch time club ideas |
There is a lunch time club timetable with activities offer every day for both 12.15 and 1pm lunch times |
|
New playground ideas |
The new playground was opened with equipment chosen by pupils |
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Dining room pictures don’t display what is on the menu |
In one dining room the old displays have been removed and the room has been repainted |
We value the ideas, opinions and perspectives of all of our pupils. We aim to make our pupils feel listened to, understood, and valued as members of the school community. If you are interested in joining Pupil Voice or would like to find out more let your class teacher know!
Developing Pupil Voice at West Kirby School and College
Watch our recent Autism Show webinar week talk with Mrs Sarah Wilkinso, Deputy Head & SENDCo - Find out 'What is Pupil Voice, why it's important and ideas on how we achieve it'.