Our Governors’ meeting on Wednesday had a number of special guests. Firstly, a number of CEOs from other Trusts sat-in online, to get a flavour of how our Governors operate. Secondly, we had a presentation from the Chair and Vice-Chair of School Council, Year 6 pupils Willow and Safa. These two did a brilliant job of explaining how ‘pupil voice’ works here at Parkdale. Governors and visitors alike, including our very own CEO Mrs Meredith, were ‘blown away’ by these two and the way we make sure children have their voices heard at Parkdale. Our School Council is something we are very proud of and put a lot of effort into. It is effective and represents all children in school. Being on it develops leadership and communication skills in the reps. Most importantly, it gets things done and helps us improve the school in line with the children’s needs, interests and ambitions. Willow and Safa spoke confidently, some (self) scripted but lots of it spontaneous, with conviction, humour and eloquence. They were a credit to our school and should feel very proud.
One thing Governors particularly noted and asked school leaders to investigate, was that the children reportedly really miss the after-school multi-sport clubs. We’ll look at this for next year.