Pupil Voice
Pupil Voice is an opportunity for the children at Hawkinge Primary School to have a voice and express their views and opinions about our school. Sessions last approximately 20-25 minutes and take place once per term, led by Year 6 pupils.
Children are placed in mixed age groups and are grouped with their siblings. Each session has an agenda which the Year 6 leaders follow, with the opportunity to play some team building games at the end of the session if there is time. The Pupil Voice Leaders are expected to establish their own rules and take charge of the session – they do this in the initial session in September. Teachers remain in the classroom in a supportive capacity and give feedback to the leaders so that they know what they did well and also receive advice and tips on how they could improve future sessions.
This year, we have 14 pupil voice groups led by 25 Year 6 pupils. Throughout the year, we will be discussing a range of issues about our school and regularly asking children to contribute suggestions and ideas about what we do well as a school and ways we can continue to improve.
Towards the end of the school year, children in Year 5 have the opportunity to apply to be Pupil Voice Leaders, ready for Year 6. They then work with the Year 6 leaders and, in the final session of each academic year, join them to lead the session where the Year 6 leaders hand over to the incoming Pupil Voice leaders, ready to take over from them the following year.
The dates of this year’s Pupil Voice sessions are yet to be confirmed. Keep an eye on the noticeboard and website for agendas and feedback from the meetings. There will also be Pupil Voice Reporters next year who will prepare a summary about each session for the school newsletter. This is what they had to say about the handover session in July:
“This week, on Monday, was the Year 5s first pupil voice session ready for next year. Sadly, it was the Year 6s last pupil voice session as they are leaving us and going to Secondary School next year. In pupil voice this week the Year 5s asked the pupils in their groups “What have you enjoyed this year? “ and they have enjoyed school trips and some specific themes. We also asked what they would like to do more of next year and ideas include: art, sports like cricket and many others, as well as more geography, maths, history and English. The Year 6s also did a questionnaire about the Arts. The arts are things including: drama, art, music, sports, singing and many more.”
