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Tuesday, 11 May 2010
Students at Bolton School Junior Boys' Division have entered the
Speaker's School Council Awards to recognise their achievements in
completing an exciting and successful project to improve their play
area.
The awards are run by Parliament's Education Service and the
Speaker of the House of Commons, John Bercow MP, who launched the
scheme to recognise the most inspiring and engaging achievements of
School Councils across the UK.
The Junior Boys' School Council was set up in September of last
year and the 'Improving the Play Environment' project was an ideal
project for them to be involved with to help the children
understand what a School Council do. The Council were asked what
they thought of their play space and how new space created
following building work could be used. They in turn canvassed
opinion from their classes and finally decided on some climbing
equipment. They approached the Parents' Association via the Head
teacher for support, and following various fundraising activities
the Council then made a shortlist of equipment that they could
afford within the budget and took proposals to their classes to
vote on.
The result was activity equipment that allowed climbing and
enjoyable activities for children, which changed the playtime
emphasis away from football alone and encouraged more cooperative
play and different kinds of physical activity. In addition, it
showed the children that they could affect change in their school
through the newly created School Council.
Before the project the yard was boring, but now there is a
chance to do things that we couldn't normally do that are fun and
challenging. It was School Council that made it happen-they got the
ideas and talked to the classes and Mr Whittaker
Pupil, Aman Kumar
The children were excited about the project and enjoyed working
out what they could afford from the money they had available. All
the School Council boys, including my son, felt a big
responsibility in choosing something that was right for the whole
school, and have pride in the fact that it was they who made it
happen
Parent and Non-teaching staff, Michelle Moores
The Junior Boys will now wait to see if they make the shortlist
to attend the awards ceremony to be held in parliament in June. The
winning schools will receive a variety of prizes including money to
go towards a new project or a piece of equipment to contribute to
the School Council and how it is run.
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