Student Council

Our MISSION STATEMENT

The Purbeck School holds the belief that successful education requires active participation from staff, students and governors of the school (and other schools within the Purbeck pyramid), parents and guardians in the home, and members of the community. We believe that effective relationships are promoted through consultation, collaboration and open communication.

The PURPOSE OF our STUDENT focus groups

The purpose of our student focus groups is to encourage pupils to get involved in issues that concern them in and around school. Our student focus groups will be based around the principle of listening to the views of pupils and ensuring these views are acted upon. Put simply, the student voice is a force for improving The Purbeck School.

Organisation

The student focus groups are overseen by Assistant Headteacher Mrs Watson. It draws representatives from each of the tutor groups in Year 7, 8, 9, 10 and 11. On a half termly basis, student focus groups will meet with either Mrs Watson, a member of the Senior Leadership Team or a Middle Leader to discuss matter such as teaching and learning, pastoral support; the community and extra-curricular provision in the school.

Timetable of upcoming focus groups

Date	Year Group	Staff Member	Topics
Week commencing 23/9/24	11	Mrs Watson	Support & preparation for GCSEs
Week commencing 30/9/24	7	All members of SLT	Answering your questions on Purbeck School and reflection on the start to year 7
Week commencing 11/11	Whole School voting	Mr Darley	Reviewing the use of CCTV by our school toilets.
Week commencing 25/11	10 tutor groups in years 7-12	Miss Yarnold	Anti-bullying & school environment
Week commencing 9/12	Whole School	Mrs Watson, House Leaders and members of the Sixth Form Student Leadership Team	What’s your experiences of being a young person in our school?
Week commencing 3/2	Whole school	Mrs Watson and the Sixth Form Student Leadership Team	The Purbeck School Mission and Ethos

What did the Student Council achieve in 2023-24

You Said…	We Did…
We would like more house competitions.	House Leaders, Mr Mead and Mrs Watson listened to the student council suggestions and a year plan of house competitions has been planned. The first is a ‘Coin Challenge’ which will be closely followed by The Best Pumpkin Design for Halloween.
Can we have more non-uniform days?	Last year, we had three non-uniform days. One was raising money for ‘Show Racism the Red Card,’ the second was for ‘#willdoes’ and the third for Red Nose Day
Please can we have a meal deal in the canteen.	A meal deal was introduced for £2.70
Can we have a breakfast provision.	The café is now open before school serving a range of pastries and toast for breakfast
Year 11 would like some breakfast before their exams.	Our catering provider kindly sponsored breakfast for our year 11 students before they sat their exams.
Can year 10 and year 11 have revision time built into the tutor programme?	Year 10 and year 11 tutor groups were given revision time and a box of revision resources to help them prepare for their exams.
We would like more trips.	Mrs Watson is planning activities week for July 2025.
We would like to do more to celebrate national awareness days and key issues in society.	We introduced a weekly ‘Bold Voices’ tutor time session to give you all further time to discuss matters such as LGBTQ+, racism, sexism and protecting the planet. We also ran half termly campaigns such as Pride month where we created our own Purbeck School Pride Logo and where we showed ‘Racism the Red Card’ by wearing something red, whilst fundraising for their charity.

If you are interested in supporting or joining our student council, please contact cwatson@purbeck.dorset.sch.uk

Please do read the student council minutes for further actions taken.

Student Focus Group Minutes

Outcomes: experiences of being a young person at The Purbeck School

Student Voice: Experiences of being a young person at The Purbeck School.

December 2024
x23 6^th form students led the student voice with small groups of lower school students.
x4 House Leaders and members of SLT also worked with KS3 and KS4 students.
Approximately 123 lower school students gave their views

What are your experiences of being (insert gender) in this school.

Lots of opportunities to play sports. Opportunities to make lots of friends. Quite daunting at first but have grown to like it. Very positive. Enjoy access to the sports at break time. Access to the sport centre is great. Treated fairly by teachers. Friendly and welcoming school. Proud to come to this school

What do you think the school does well at? If you were talking to a friend, what would you say are the strengths of this school?

Teachers are nice. A lot of respect between student and teachers. PE department and opportunities in sport. NEST is supportive. Teaching is engaging and lessons enjoyable- love the clubs e.g. STEM and Sculpture. Kindness, aspiration and perseverance. Student ambassadors. Music facilities. Nice staff. Good library. Teachers are experts in their fields. Good after school clubs.

What do you think it means to be a Purbeck School student?

Be nice to people and they will be nice to you. The school is built on Respect for each other. Good community. Be kind. To try hard. “Proud to be at the school”

How do you think the different genders are treated in this school by staff?

There wasn’t any disparity reported on how the genders are treated by staff

How much inappropriate language do you hear: how do staff respond?

None in lessons but in social time it is sometimes used between friends. In the corridors. Not said in front of staff but when it is, it is challenged. Used but only as slang language. It is just banter. It if is used in a unkind way, we report it.

How far has the PD programme helped you deal with / understand… do you feel educated about sexualised language, identity (protected characteristics)

Already know the content taught but provides opportunity to discuss it further. Yr 7 found it useful to explore topics in more depth. PD lessons are very helpful. Useful for outside of school. Good to raise awareness of topics.

Where do you feel safe in this school?

Most places. With tutors.

Are there any areas you feel unsafe (include unstructured times)

Some corridors are crowded. Toilets can be unwelcoming. Dislike mix sex toilets. Girls don’t like sharing toilets with the boys.

If there is anything you could change in this school, that you think would make a difference to everyone, what would it be?

Canteen prices. Shorter break and lunch. Louder bells for outside – staff to have whistles? Toilet doors. Good students to be rewarded more. More rewards. Year areas are too small. More positive feedback, house points, emails home.

Who are role models to you in this school?

Older students

Do you feel listened to? Who listens to you? In what ways do you feel listened to?

Staff and students will listen. We could have more student voice. Nest, tutor (yr 7). Nest are supportive. Tutors. Friends. Yes we feel listened to.

Is it OK to be different in this school?

Yes absolutely everyone is different and no one is singled out for being different.
Yes
A lot of people are respectful

Points to review:

Discussion with Heads of Departments re entrance and exits to classrooms to avoid crowding of corridors.
Review of toilet provision and whole school vote on whether to introduce gendered toilets
Continue to use student voice in this new format to ensure wider coverage of students are involved.