Pupil Voice

At Ark Elvin Academy we believe that student voice plays an important role in improving every aspect of school life. We actively seek the opinions and perspectives of our students and ensure they are considered in our decision-making process.

Students are involved in numerous aspects of school life and regularly undertake activities such as interviewing of new staff, departmental reviews and focus groups. Constant communication is actively encouraged between students and staff through our pastoral model and Character Development lessons.

There are three aspects to pupil leadership at Ark Elvin:

1. School Council
2. Elvin Prefects
3. Peer Mentoring

School Council is a democratically elected body which is composed of one representative from each tutor group. It is the main forum for student voice in the school. The student council is led by an elected president and vice president.

The group meets on a half termly basis with the support of a vice principal.

Ideas and progress of the group are fed back to the rest of the student body through form time and assemblies.

The school council president

The school council president is responsible for managing the affairs of the school council and the prefect Body. Duties of the student council president and vice president include

• Preparing for and chairing student council meetings.
• Writing up details of the student council meetings and submit student opinions to the school’s senior leadership team.
• Ensuring all prefect duties are carried out correctly and that the prefect Body are the ultimate role models for all other pupils in the school.
• Representing the school at local and national events as Elvin ambassadors.
• Involvement in planning events such as Open Evenings, Parent Review Days and Parents Evening.
• Taking prospective parents and pupils on tours of the school
• Welcoming special guests to the school.

School Council Elections

• In the first week of September, under the direction of the form tutor, pupils nominate themselves or their peers as form reps
• In the second week, each nominee for form rep delivers a stump speech to their peers. Voting is done by show of hands and the winner becomes the form rep
• Each form rep in year 11 is automatically entered for student council president elections
• In the third week of September, each nominee for Student council president delivers a two-minute stump speech at all assemblies. Pupils vote after the speeches using ballot papers. Votes are counted by the year team and submitted to TOI. The candidate with the most votes becomes president and the runner up the Vice President

Prefects will have general responsibilities as part of team Elvin, this would include being part of a daily duty team, supporting at Parents Evenings, Parent Review Days, school productions and Open Evenings/Days. The role of a Prefect is a highly respected and very important one.

Selection Process

• Pupils in year 10 apply to become prefects in the spring term.
• A team of senior staff shortlist the candidates.
• The shortlisted candidates are interviewed and appointed as prefects.
• Prefects in the previous year (year 11) hand over in the spring term.

Elvin Prefect Role Description

Role Purpose 

• To support the culture and ethos of Ark Elvin Academy by demonstrating positive behaviours and acting as role models for other pupils. 

Key Responsibilities 

• To support at school events (such as parents evening, helping out with productions, opening evenings /days etc).
• To contribute to the effective running of the school, as directed by school staff
• To conduct lunch duties as per the agreed rota
• To mentor younger students. 
• To attend to scheduled meetings.

Expectations

• School Prefects will need to have the ability to work productively with others, whilst using their initiative and originality to contribute to the culture and ethos of the academy.  
• School Prefects will need to be organised, responsible, enthusiastic, and great ambassadors for the academy.
• School Prefects must maintain excellent behaviour, uniform, attendance and punctuality.
• School Prefects must ensure that they check their school email on a regular basis for communications. 

Should a School Prefect fail to meet any of the responsibilities or expectations on this document they may have their role removed.

Through mentoring, pupils will support the development of younger pupils and themselves.

• Each year 7 pupil will have a mentor in year 9
• Each year 8 pupil will have a mentor in year 10

How mentoring works?

During Character Development lessons on Monday, half of Year 9 go to their paired year 7 form and half of Year 7 go their paired year 9 form. 

In the session, the teacher introduces the character trait in a five-minute teacher led session. The rest of the time continues as a mentoring session where pupils review last week's character targets and set this week's. Together, mentors and mentees think through ways they can show those character traits and mentors help mentees set targets.

Mentors meet their mentees at least one more time in the week for 30 minutes during lunch time for a check in.