Pupil Voice and Responsibilities at St Mary's Catholic High School, Leyland
We are extremely proud of our pupils and the responsibility they show in a wide variety of different roles at St Mary’s. There has been a significant culture change over recent years, allowing the school to promote outstanding pupil leaders across all Year cohorts; our pupils now play an essential role in the life of the school. The pupils themselves show great pride in their school environment and have high expectations of themselves and others.
The Senior Prefect team contribute in many different ways in moving our school forward; their impact is also felt in the community. For example, it is an expectation for our senior team to make a commitment in attending Tuesday morning mass at St Mary’s Church and the team are also ambassadors to specific Year groups, where attendance at certain events throughout the year is a necessity. Several of the Senior Prefect team also lead assemblies throughout the Year and all take on additional leadership responsibilities when it comes to managing the day to day business of the Prefect team; this ensures that a strong Prefect presence is fulfilled when performing break and lunch time duties. Weekly Senior Prefect meetings also allow pupils the opportunity to discuss ways of improving the school further.
The Form Representative role has been upgraded, with pupils also contributing to what they believe the role should entail. As a result of pupil suggestions, a more rigorous appointment process has been set up and each Form Representative involve themselves in the day to day running of the Form alongside and guided by the expertise of the Form Tutor.
Other key pupil roles and responsibilities in school include Sports House Captains, Peer Mentors, Guardian Angels, Library Prefects, Music Prefects as well as the Chaplaincy Team.
“Think Tank” meetings are held termly, to enable pupils from all Year groups the opportunity to have their say on a number of key issues linked to school improvement. Pupils across the age and ability spectrum are involved in this important work and this ensures that there is a balance and roundedness in the outcomes and improvement. Our drive to succeed, therefore, comes as as much from our pupils as from the senior team, staff and governors.
At St Mary’s we feel it important that our pupils are rewarded for their behaviour in and out of the classroom. A reward ‘Conditions Form’ is a fair approach used to determine the pupils who are invited. At St Mary’s, we take a holistic approach, as we believe that to be invited on rewards trips should take into account every aspect of a child’s life at the school. For example, classroom behaviour, attendance & punctuality and account is also taken of the extra mile that many children contribute to school life. There are lots of rewards that take place throughout the year-some taking place in school and others further afield. Our rewards are regularly reviewed, with the pupils having an input into the types of rewards that we offer.