School Council:

The role of the school council in Astley Cooper School is to ensure that all students have a voice.  The school council is a crucial link between the student body and the staff.  Each year every Form is asked to vote for a male and female Form representative.  These students will then go forward to the year group elections where one male and one female will be voted onto the school council.  The successful students are encouraged to work closely with all the Form representatives in their year group to make a positive difference to important whole school issues.

The school council meets every two weeks.  Agendas and minutes are emailed to all members as well as members of the Senior Leadership Team.

British Values:

• Encourage students to accept responsibility for their behaviour, show initiative, and to understand how they can contribute positively to the lives of those living and working in the locality of the school and to society more widely
• Encourage respect for other people
• Encourage respect for democracy and support for participation in the democratic processes, including respect for the basis on which the law is made and applied in England
• An understanding of how citizens can influence decision-making through the democratic process
• An understanding of the importance of identifying and combatting discrimination

Examples of actions taken:

• Advantages and disadvantages of democracy
• Ensure that all students within the school have a voice that is listened to and demonstrate how democracy works by actively promoting democratic processes such as a school council whose members are voted for by the students
• To hold mock elections

Student Leadership:

Student leadership at The  Astley Cooper School provides exciting opportunities for pupils to gain valuable experience and skills and to be involved in the running of the school.  Members of the Student Leadership Team will have four key roles:

1. Be a role model for all students, reflecting the core values of Responsibility, Respect and Resilience

Student leaders must behave in a responsible manner so that other pupils can be influenced by them and follow their example. Their appearance, including their uniform, and their behaviour should be consistent with our high expectations. People will look to them for inspiration. 

2. To help develop the school

The students entrusted with leadership positions have ideas as to how to support the continual improvement of the school.

3. Assist staff

Our student leaders are given positions of responsibility to help staff in the running of the school. This additional accountability will help to develop their leadership skills and their character as they are exposed to challenging situations.

4. Represent the school

We wish for students to be a voice for the school alongside the staff. The student leaders will demonstrate the school values through their character in attending the following events: Open Evenings, Parent Evenings, school shows etc.