‘The whole Catholic school is part of the Church’s ministry to evangelise and catechise. Through the centuries the Church has educated young people and adults as part of its life.’

Red Book, 2010:23

At the Convent of Jesus and Mary Catholic Infant school we have succeeded in integrating Pupil Voice in all areas of school life. Pupil Voice is the way all pupils make their ideas, needs and opinions known and participate in decisions that affect their lives.

When pupils are heard they feel valued. This is a steppingstone towards embedding our Learning Behaviours and encouraging confidence, curiosity, creativity, resilience, and resourcefulness, as well as supporting pupils to take responsibility, challenge themselves, value teamwork and ultimately aim for grace.

As pupils engage with their learning in class, they reflect on their likes and dislikes, where they are in their learning and what their next steps are. Pupils take responsibility for their behaviour, and through our School Rules, they understand the importance of making good sensible choices in their attitudes, work and play, which they know will have an impact in their lives and empowers them to make changes.

MINI VINNIES

The Mini Vinnies are quite literally mini St. Vincent de Paul’s.

Mini Vinnies are 7 to 11 year olds based in schools and parishes across England and Wales, and in several other countries across the world. They come together to form a part of the

St. Vincent de Paul Society England and Wales

, a voluntary organisation dedicated to tackling poverty in all its forms. Mini Vinnies meet to pray, discuss and support however they can to help make a difference in their communities. 

Mini Vinnies truly turn concern into action as they use the simple formula of ‘See, Think, To’ to find people in need and help them. They might help by: 

• Charity Work – raising funds for different charities,
• Collecting food parcels or gift boxes for vulnerable children in the school community,
• Visiting local care homes to sing or play games with the residents,
• Leading collective worship in our school,
• Running food collections for a local foodbank,

SCHOOL COUNCIL

The Department for Education (DfE) is keen to support all schools to have structures in place which allow pupils to have a real say in issues that affect them and to know that their opinions count. There are a number of ways in which schools can choose to help achieve effective pupil participation. A school council is a formal group of pupils within a school who are elected by their peers to represent them and their views.

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.  A School Council can provide a meaningful way in which pupils can voice their opinions and have their views taken into account in decisions which impact upon them.

Experience from schools here and further afield shows that a school council that is supported and nurtured helps to improve many aspects of school life. It is an important and useful way for schools to provide leadership and development opportunities for their pupils.  Within the school curriculum, one of the key areas making up the ‘Learning for Life and Work’ theme is active participation.  The curriculum requires that children and young people are provided with opportunities to participate in school and society. School Councils are an excellent way in which to increase participation, teaching young people about democracy, local and global citizenship and accountability.

The Convent of Jesus and Mary Catholic Infant School & Nursery has an active School Council with two representatives from each class. The PSHE Leader manages the School Council and meets with the children regularly. The PSHE Leader takes the minutes of their meetings; they also meet termly with the Executive Headteacher. The School Council takes a leading role in many of the school events, particularly when judging the quality of other pupil’s work, as well as delivering whole school assemblies with themes such as British Values, School Rules, our Learning Behaviours, etc.

ECO-WARRIORS

At the Convent of Jesus and Mary Catholic Infant School & Nursery we care deeply about environmental issues and have a strong desire to actively protect our planet. However, environmental issues such as climate change, biodiversity-loss or plastic pollution are huge global issues and the thought of tackling them can be intimidating, leaving many feeling overwhelmed and wondering ‘Where do we begin?’

In the last few years we have developed the role of the ‘Eco-Warriors’ around our school to raise awareness of issues such as the effects of climate change in our world, pollution in general as well as plastic pollution, and our role towards a more sustainable future.

From the next academic year (2023/2024) we are planning to join the Eco-Schools programme, where we will be connecting our activities to three of the Ten Eco-Schools Topics. These topics break large, global issues like climate change into more manageable and directed themes that prompt young people to consider environmental changes that they can make in their school and everyday lives.

The Eco-Schools programme provides a simple, seven-step framework that answers this question whilst empowering children to make a difference in their school, local community and beyond. Since 1994, millions of children and young people around the world have worked through the Eco-Schools Seven Steps before being recognised for their efforts with a prestigious Eco-Schools Green Flag.

For further information on the Eco-Schools Seven Steps and how they are delivered, follow the early years, and primary links. To find out more about the Ten Eco-Schools Topics (including examples) click here.

Step 1 Eco-Committee

A group of children who, with the support of an Eco-Coordinator/PSHE Leader, are responsible for running the Eco-Schools programme in our school community.

Step 2 Environmental Review

A set of fact-finding questions linked to our 10 Eco-Schools topics that have been designed to help our Eco-Committee/Eco-Warriors understand what environmental work your school is already doing, whilst inspiring further child-led eco-actions.

Step 3 Action Plan

This is a working document to help our Eco-Committee/Eco-Warriors plan and manage actions for 3 Eco-Schools Topics of their choice, which they will work on during the school year.

Step 4 Curriculum Links

This would include curriculum links to different aspects of the environment across the year groups.

Step 5 Informing and Involving

We would be engaging the entire school and its wider community in eco-projects and actions for the 3 Eco-Schools topics chosen in Step 3: Action Plan.

Step 6 Monitoring and Evaluation

We would be assessing the impact of the topic work in our action plan, addressing what worked well, what needed adapting and how our Eco-Committee/Eco-Warriors could develop their eco-actions for the following year.

Step 7 Eco-Code

We would be creating a whole school promise to protect the planet that reflects the topic work our Eco-Committee/Eco-Warriors completed in their Action Plan during the school year.