The range of opportunities that pupils receive in order to develop their leadership skills and get their voice heard.
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Information about the school
Stanwell School is an English-medium mixed 11 to 19 comprehensive foundation school, situated in Penarth, Vale of Glamorgan. There are 1,984 pupils on roll (December 2021), of whom around 470 are in the sixth form. The school serves the communities of Penarth and Sully and also attracts around three in every 10 pupils from outside the catchment area. Around 6% of pupils are eligible for free school meals, which is well below the national average of 17.5%. Just over 6% of pupils live in the 20% most deprived areas of Wales. Around one in 10 have a special educational need. Approximately 15% are from an ethnic-minority background other than white British. A small proportion of pupils receive support to learn English as an additional language (4%). 3% of pupils speak Welsh fluently.
Context and background to the effective or innovative practice
Learner voice has been fundamental to the school’s culture for many years. Learner voice has been developed over time through a thriving and committed school council along with many other sub groups. The introduction of Curriculum for Wales provided the school with an opportunity to reframe the focus of itsr learner voice activities to ensure that the focus of any learner voice activity was to provide extensive opportunity to further develop pupil leadership. Over the last five years the school has created systems and practices which support pupils to play an active role in making decisions that affect them. Pupil leadership opportunities have been fundamental in the whole school approach to curriculum design, collaboration, and development of whole school understanding of the cross cutting themes such as diversity and the United Nation’s Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC).
Description of nature of strategy or activity
Senior and middle leaders held a number of reflective discussions where they explored their understanding of what pupil leadership means to them, why it matters and how it links to learning, engagement, school improvement and the realisation of national reform. They evaluated current provision and as a result, they created a number of new systems to strengthen opportunities for further development of pupil leadership in the school.
The introduction of a Curriculum Consultant Group has been fundamental in ensuring pupil leadership is developed with a particular focus on curriculum design. The school has appointed 47 pupils to act as Curriculum Consultants across all year groups. They have worked with teaching staff, senior leaders, fellow pupils and stakeholders, shaping and designing the school’s response to Curriculum for Wales and all elements of the National Mission. The team of Curriculum Consultants has been constructed to ensure it is representative of the school community and has recently been focusing on developing the school’s response to cross-cutting themes by ensuring that schemes of learning celebrate diversity and promote equality. Curriculum Consultants meet every half term and have gained a detailed working knowledge of the process of curriculum design. They attend regular AOLE planning days with middle leaders and are regularly involved in collaborative planning and enquiry projects. Curriculum consultants ensure that pupils have an authentic role in curriculum design and have been fundamental in creating the school’s vision for Curriculum for Wales.
In order to further develop its whole school approach to diversity, the school has also created a PRIDE group and Neurodiversity group. These groups create opportunities to develop pupil leadership with a particular focus on representation, inclusion and diversity. Learners meet regularly and have taken a leading role in evaluating initial response to curriculum design and then collaborating with staff to discuss opportunities for development of diversity within curriculum design and all aspects of school life.
The Curriculum Consultants, Pride and Neurodiversity groups complement the already firmly established school council, subject specific learner voice groups and peer to peer mentoring programme. Work was undertaken to establish clear roles for each pupil leadership pathway. The school council mission statement was revisited to reflect the ways in which the different pupil leadership opportunities would triangulate and collaborate. The school council have focused on evaluating and contributing to curriculum design with a focus on developing UNCRC and most recently can be credited with the role they played in obtaining an award for the school’s work on respecting the rights of children and young people. Sub groups from the school council take an active leadership role in developing learning and teaching as each department has appointed subject specific prefects who regularly consult with learners and teaching staff to ensure that views are represented appropriately. This also feeds into the whole school monitoring and evaluation cycle. Student leadership has been further developed by the creation of Environment, Community, Charity and Well-being Sub Groups.
What impact has this work had on provision and learners’ standards?
The development of pupil leadership has impacted positively on provision, especially in terms of curriculum design. Student leadership and collaboration with staff has ensured greater, more meaningful and authentic coverage of all cross cutting themes. Pupil leadership has contributed to the whole school understanding and approach to diversity, representation and inclusion and has impacted on some whole school decisions relating to the structure and delivery of the Health and Wellbeing AOLE. Student leadership opportunities have impacted positively on pupils’ ability to think strategically and to communicate articulately with a range of stakeholders. In recent enquiry projects undertaken to evaluate the effectiveness of pupil leadership opportunities, the pupils commented that they feel a greater sense of belonging and value the authentic collaborations that have been created as a result of this work. Pupils have developed as effective communicators, collaborators, innovators and strategists. Pupil leadership opportunities have impacted positively on a cultural level.
How have you shared your good practice?
Information on all pupil leadership opportunities and the work they undertake is regularly shared within the school community via bulletin updates. Regular updates are also shared with parents, carers and the wider community via the school’s website and weekly newsletters.
The school’s work in developing pupil leadership opportunities relating to curriculum design, most notably in the work of the Curriculum Consultants has been shared in many professional learning events arranged by the regional consortia. It has also been shared at Welsh Government events, including the ARC conference 2019 and most recently the Curriculum Consultants presented their work at a Welsh Government visit for a group of visiting Senior Leaders and members of the Lithuanian Education Ministry.