Our Pupil Ambassadors
What do our Pupil Ambassadors do?
Pupil Ambassadors are formal groups of pupils who act as representatives of their classmates in discussing school issues with the Executive Headteacher and staff. It’s a pupil led and inclusive way of representing and contributing Pupil Voice in our schools; with all staff and leaders ensuring that pupils have important input in the running of the school.
At Adderley we are in a unique position where all pupils can be Ambassadors. They represent pupil voice throughout the year, through regular discussions, where a range of items are staples to their agenda, such as Teaching and Learning, Sport, Environment, Worship and Pupil Well-being.
Pupil Ambassadors help to make decisions about how the school is run and take on projects that support all children’s learning and development, such as organising charity events, representing the school at outside events or ensuring the school is environmentally friendly.
Pupil Ambassadors do a number of things:
- They usually meet with a teacher present to discuss and sort out problems. These could include school lunches, behaviour or ideas for fundraising events.
- Members are responsible for carrying out the ideas that have been agreed upon, such as planning events, providing valuable feedback on the curriculum, writing newspaper articles, or meeting with catering staff.
- All pupils at Adderley have the opportunity to take part in these formal discussions through rotation over the year.
Why should you have Pupil Ambassadors?
There are lots of reasons to have a pupil ambassadors. To begin with, Article 12 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) says that children and young people should have a say in decisions that affect their lives. Having Pupil Ambassadors can provide a meaningful way in which pupils can voice their opinions and have their views taken into account in decisions that impact upon them. Evidence and experience from schools all over the country shows that an ambassador programme that is supported and nurtured helps to improve many aspects of school life. It’s an important and useful way for schools to provide leadership and development opportunities for our pupils.
Pupil Ambassadors are a great way for students to take on leadership roles, promote the voice of the student body, problem solve and impact their community. It serves as the voice for an entire student body and actively works with teachers and advisors to promote a better learning environment with small groups undertaking activities in response to priorities recommended and voted on by pupils.
Within our school curriculum, one of the key areas making up the ‘Learning for Life and Work’ theme is active participation. The curriculum requires that young people are provided with opportunities to participate in school and society. Pupil Ambassador programmes are an excellent way in which to increase participation, teaching young people about democracy, local and global citizenship and accountability.
What makes Pupil Ambassadors successful?
A good Pupil Ambassador group is one that represents the views of all students and gets things done. These are some things that make our ambassadors effective:
- Regular meetings.
- Groups that are not too big.
- Good communication between representatives and their class.
- A budget (however small)
- Annual evaluations.
What might be discussed during a Pupil Ambassador meeting?
Children are selected on a rotation at Adderley, so that every pupil has the opportunity to represent pupil voice. Having pupil ambassadors provides an opportunity for pupils to be directly involved in general issues that affect the school. During discussions, issues can be wide-ranging and can be initiated by staff or pupil groups. The following are standing items on the agenda:
- Fun and Games - Organising Fundraising Events, supporting charitable causes and ensuring there is lots of fun!
- Teaching and Learning - Discussion around the development of our curriculum, appointment of staff, agreeing school values and vision and key learning behaviours.
- Environment - Improvements to school grounds, protecting the environment, providing guidance for inclusion in newsletter.
- Worship Council - Creating school prayers, hosting regular worship and special visitors during worship, developing our school vision and values.
- Sport – being involved in the organising and running of sports day, role of playground leaders and their effectiveness, equipment and extra-curricular opportunities.
Pupil Ambassadors are given time in class and time during Worship to feedback and get feedback from their peers and find out opinions on matters that will be discussed at the meetings. Feedback from these sessions and minutes from meetings can then be used to inform decisions at a whole-school level.