Children’s Councils

School Council

At Ninelands we are proud to run an active school council, that help to represent the whole school.

Class elections are held every year so that different representatives can put forward their election speeches. One candidate is elected from each class from Years 2-6, and this develops children’s understanding of democracy.

The school council have already been successful in introducing Buddy Benches, fundraising activities, meeting members of parliament and so much more!

What do Ninelands’ School Council members say about their role?

“We listen and take ideas from everyone in school.”

“We are the voice of others.”

“We bring questions from other children who might not want to share them and then we help to make resolutions”.

“We make the school better than it is now.”

“We help to make decisions about the school.”

“We make sure everyone’s idea is heard.”

Continuing the legacy

We plan to continue the success of Nineland's School Council. We are currently planning to fundraise for Comic Relief in March, by having a ‘Dress Down Day’ and bake sale.

We are looking at holding a school competition to design a fundraising totaliser.

We will also continue to meet regularly, to share worries and concerns within the school and decide together what could be done to improve the school. 

House Captains

Our School House Captains and Vice-Captains play a prominent role in demonstrating the strong pupil voice here at Ninelands Primary School. Our Houses are named after four Yorkshire castles: Pickering, Middleham, Richmond and Skipton. School Captains and Vice Captains are elected to their roles at the beginning of Year 6 and they can be easily recognised around school wearing a cap in the colour of their particular house. The role of House Captain and Vice-Captain contains many different responsibilities: they select a child from each year group to receive a 'House Captains Award' as part of our weekly Celebration Assemblies by liaising with class teachers and therefore promoting the school weekly ethos statements; they support and mentor younger children in school during playtimes and lunchtimes; they help teachers with the organisation of various events in school including Sport Days and the 'End of Term Treat' for the house which gains the most house points in school, and they act as superb role models and ambassadors for our school. 

Food Ambassadors

Our school Food Ambassadors are a team of pupils who are there to support the development and implementation of food policies and promote healthy choices in relation to food and nutrition. They are the pupil voice in relation to food across all areas of school.

Pupils in Years 2 to 6 vote for a member of their class to represent them for the year. Elections take place every September. Food Ambassadors meet every half term and discuss issues such as healthy packed lunches, theme days and reducing food waste. They are easy to spot around school because of the green shiny shield badges they wear with pride!

Here are this year’s Food Ambassadors:

Harmony Council

The Ninelands Harmony Council is a group of selected children, from Years 2 to 6, who work together to promote respect, inclusion and diversity within school, the local community and globally.  One of our Year 6 members explained, “It helps the school understand lots of things and become a better place.” Another child described the work the Harmony Council do: “We get to show others that some people have needs and disabilities and that it is important that others do not discriminate against them. We like to do charity work because it helps others even though we don’t know them.” One of our newest members from Year 2 said that she loves it because the Harmony Council “gets to sort things out and do great things.” 

Over the past couple of years the Harmony Council has:

• Shared with classes information about Autism and ADHD and planned activities for this.
• Held a fun run to raise money for Great Ormond Street Hospital where over £3,000 was raised.
• Recorded an Internet Safety video
• Organised a celebration of the International Day of Happiness to promote positive mental health. A Year 5 commented, “Everyone has mental health and we all need to focus on it and know what to do to keep our minds healthy.”
• Re-launched Jamie Play for Key Stages 1 and 2.
• Participated in various Garforth Peace Project events.

Look out for upcoming events – we have lots of things planned!