How we listen to children at St Mary’s

At our school, our children are the most important people and we do all we can to ensure that they have many opportunities to share their thoughts, ideas and opinions about St Mary’s. Therefore, it is important that the children play an active role in the decisions that affect their learning, development and well-being. In so doing, children will also play a role in further improving the quality of what our school offers its community.

We have lots of ways that children can do this (see below) and we will continue to create an ethos that allows for them children to regularly share their opinions both formally e.g. through school council meetings and informally e.g. all staff members always having an ‘open-door’ to speak to children about any concerns or queries: We pride ourselves on being a ‘Telling School’.

Head Boy & Head Girl: Two children in Year 6 are chosen each year represent the school in welcoming visitors to either site and taking positions of responsibility outside of the school council and house captains.  This year we are proud to announce that Ada and Noah K will be taking over from Isabelle and Triston  as Head Girl and Head Boy for 2024-2025. Congratulations to you both on being chosen to be role models to all children in the school and lead St Mary’s through another successful year.

School Council: Our School Council have regular meetings, steered by our School Council Lead, Steph Clarke who is a Higher Level Teaching Assistant in Year 6.  They discuss aspects of school life that have a direct effect on the children at St Mary’s and provide sensible and solution-focused ideas to the Senior Leadership Team.  They recently helped influence the installation of a bike storage rack at Rectory Gardens and also worked on the design of the new allotment beds at Rectory Gardens.

Our School Council met recently and agreed that their mission is:

• We are proud to be your school council.
• We discuss your opinions and ensure that school leadership are aware of what students feel could be improved.
• We strive to make your voices heard and we will do whatever it takes to make St Mary’s the best learning environment a child could have.

COMING SOON – OUR NEW SCHOOL COUNCIL FOR 2024-2025

Y3 Emerald:      Y3 Jade:

Y4 Crimson:  Y4 Scarlet:

Y5 Topaz:  Y5 Turquoise:

Y6 Amethyst:  Y6 Indigo:

Rights Respecting Schools:  Our RRS ambassadors have regular meetings with RRS lead Morag Abernethy (Church Lane) to discuss the rights of our children and how these are represented in our curriculum.  They demonstrate the RR values at school and help other children to understand what a RR School is.

Anti-Bullying Ambassadors: These children monitor behaviour in the playgrounds and assist with conflict resolution with their peers along with Steve Baptiste, Deputy Headteacher. They encourage children to tell an adult if they have been targeted or bullied.

House Captains: Our house captains (2 children from each house in Year 6) are very active working closely with PE teacher Jack Oakley to support systems within the schools such as play and lunchtime playground equipment and collecting and monitoring house points.

Peer Mediators:  The role of the peer mediator is to help resolve conflict. Peer Mediators should be neutral, listen to both sides and help fellow pupils work together to come up with a shared solution. Our Peer Mediators receive training from Kim Staniland, a specialist trainer for conflict resolution.

Helping Hands:  All our children are supported to identify five key people they would feel comfortable sharing their worries with. These are recorded on a colourful and annotated picture of a hand which is displayed in a prominent place in the classroom. They are referred to on a regular basis and used alongside a worry box where children can also share their concerns (anonymously if needed).