Pupil Participation and Learner Voice at Glyncollen Primary School in Swansea
Following an Estyn Inspection we carried out a self-evaluation exercise with all children and staff using Estyn’s Common Inspection Framework as a basis. The children were asked to highlight the school’s strengths in relation to each key question, and justify the basis for their comments. They were also asked to grade the school under each key question using Estyn’s grades 1-5. For each key question, there was an opportunity to suggest areas for further development. Within each year group the children worked in mixed ability groups to complete their reports.
The children took great responsibility for the task in hand and responded honestly without any inhibitions. The children’s comments provided some humour amongst the staff and have provided us with an invaluable profile of the school from the children’s viewpoint. Each year group’s results were analysed to identify key strengths and areas for development. The whole-school analysis highlighted key areas for further development – i.e. behaviour, bullying and an awareness of jobs that people do and the industries they work in. These key areas have been fed into the school’s School Improvement Plan for the year 2010/11 and have become action points for development for the Pupil Participation Groups (PPGs).
In September 2010 we felt it was an appropriate time to review the structure of the PPGs in light of the priorities of the School Effectiveness Framework (SEF) and the National Children and Young People’s Participation Standards for Wales. Each pupil in the PPGs has been issued with a PPG handbook, outlining their responsibilities as a representative and the structure of meetings. The handbook includes the SEF pupil ‘pizza’, and how it is put into practice in Glyncollen.
We created the Glyncollen Rainbow of Rights to link the seven groups (School Council, Healthy Schools, Excellent Ecos, Learning Detectives, Glyncollen Guardians, Safety Squad and Rights Respecting Schools) and ensure collaborative working. The Rainbow Committee comprises two representatives from each of the seven PPGs who have been elected by each individual group by ballot. The Rainbow group will be involved in discussions with Leadership Management Team, Governors and will ensure that feedback is provided to all their peers. The Rainbow representatives range from Years 2 to 6.
