School Council speak at London Conference

On 18th March a representative group from our Community Council went to London to share their experiences, thoughts, ideas for the future and their achievements with others involved in this initiative.

Chew Valley School was the second school to embark on the remarkable model that was launched at the Blue School, Wells. There are now over 40 schools nationwide that have incorporated this way of leading into the management of their school. We were lucky to hear presentations from seven other schools that were part of the pilot project in 2008-2010. One of the schools presenting was the now famous Elizabeth Garrett Anderson Secondary School who were visited by Michelle Obama during the US presidential visit to the UK.

The success was praised by Barry Sheerman, MP and Chair of the Childrens Schools and Families Select Committee. He acknowledged the amazing impact that Learning to Lead has had on schools involved in the project and urged others to ‘jump on board……. the most exciting initiative in education.’ He described his emotions as he discovered what the students were doing in their school; ‘my committee and I were amazed by the way in which the students in the school had been empowered to lead and actively share in the organisation and management of their education at their institution.’

The day culminated in a final presentation from Dr David Frost who led the evaluation at Cambridge University on the secondary pilot. Their findings were extremely positive and clearly depicted the positive impact on students.

This is what our students had to say about being part of the council:

‘People work in a team, I am working with people that want to change things’ Connie Shepherd 10E

‘Being part of something that helps the community around us makes me feel happy that I am doing something to help’  Heather Uppington 7W

‘I’m not confident, I wouldn’t have been able to stand up there and

present a couple of years ago. The School Council has given me a sense of belief in myself’  Emma Nixon 13H

‘I get listened to more than in a class. If I express my views, people listen to me and take action. I love to help the school make a change for life’ Lewis Horseman 8W

‘I feel that I get an input that matters which has strengthened my ability to speak in front of others’ Olivia Bartlett 9L