Member Tip #3 | How your school can use Split Class Meetings to improve pupil voice ✂️
Over to Louise, a brilliant member from The British International School in Budapest (wow, cool right?) to explain…..
COULD YOU GIVE US A LITTLE BACKGROUND, LOUISE?
‘We have an area at school, next to the playground, that was a little bit barren. We managed to get a small grant to have this area 're-wilded' so that we could turn it into a wildlife garden…..
Some specialists visit the school and they 'rotavated' the ground to prepare it and planted some seeds in it to change the nutrient level.
It is essential that now the area is left alone...however, because it is an open area of land, children were trampling across it.
‘ROTAVATED’ - THAT’S A NEW WORD FOR ME 🤣 HOW DID YOUR COMMUNICATION TEAM GET INVOLVED?
Some eco-warriors told them. They wanted to find out what the best way would be to protect this area.
When we were in discussions over the possible class meeting question, it came to our attention that although the older students in KS2 would be aware of the wildlife area, maybe the smaller children don't know why this dusty, barren little area of land is special.
If they were in Year 1, they played in a separate playground last academic year.
So, this is where the split question came in handy!
SO WHAT DID YOU ASK?
We asked our youngest students (KS1) if they know what is special about the area (the teachers put a photo of the area of land on their boards before the meeting) with a simple yes/no answer.
As it happened, most of our year 2s (who were year 1 children last year) did not know what this area of land was for and said 'no'.
AND KEY STAGE 2?
We asked our KS2 children (who would know what that area was) what they thought would be a good way to protect the area (posters/signs up, fence it off or ask the sixth formers - who are in year 13 and are part of the re-wilding project - to educate the primary school on what the area is for). Fencing it off was the popular option.
SO SMART! WHAT CHANGED?
As a result, we now have two actions…
A fence is being put up at the end of next week to protect the area, and for the younger children who didn't know about the area, a KS1 assembly is was planned with the theme of the wildlife garden so that they understand why a little area of the playground is being cordoned off.
There was no point asking them what we should do to protect an area of land if they didn't even realise it needed protecting!
A brilliant example, thanks for sharing Louise!
Need help running a split class meeting? Drop us an email membership@smartschoolcouncils.org.uk
Greg
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