Pupil Voice Policy

Pupil Voice Policy

This policy applies to Senior School, Junior School and EYFS

See also Pastoral Pupil Complaints Policy & Pupil Leadership Policy

It is very important to us at Wimbledon High School that the pupils have a voice and are able and confident to help shape the aims and atmosphere of their school. 

Pupils are free at any time to their feelings, positive or negative, to their tutors as a first step, and we encourage a close and collaborative relationship between tutor and tutee to make this possible.

There are also formal opportunities for Pupil Voice, which include:

The Student Leadership Team, elected by their peers and by staff, to represent the school in weekly meetings with the Assistant Head Pastoral & Director of Sixth Form, as well as in regular meetings with the Head & Senior Deputy Head. These girls will also help to lead assemblies and whole school events. Recent pupil-led assemblies have included topics such as Connections, Ada Lovelace and our environment as well as organising our CleverClogs Conference, Happiness Festival and School Birthday. 

Peer Counsellors work closely with the Heads of Year and Assitant Head Pastoral and Pastoral Team in the Junior School to reflect the pastoral needs of the girls in the school, as voiced to them by the girls. They take weekly form times with their form, without a teacher presence, which allows girls to voice worries and concerns to them. They are safeguarding trained and understand the threshold for passing on information.  

Student Parliament is led by the Head Girl team and takes place once a half term. Every girl in the school attends and is able to voice her opinion on a range of issues. No staff are present, giving girls an entirely free rein.

School Council meets in the second half of each term and is chaired by the Head Girl team, and attended by the Assistant Head Pastoral. Form Secretaries from the each form are given the agenda in advance and gather feedback from their forms before the so that they can voice more opinions than simply their own. Minutes are taken by the Deputy Head Girl and posted on Firefly. The Assistant Head Pastoral follows up on these minutes and posts a formal response on Firefly. 

As of September 2019, the School Council has 5 seperate sub-committees (listed below) which meet in the first half of each term. Each sub-committee is chaired by a member of the Student Leadership Team, assistant by a member/s of staff and an elected representative from each Year Group. Hustings are held for each position, in each year group in week 3 each September and again after February half term. Each member of School Council as well as sub-committees are elected for half an academic year, September to Feburary, February to July. 

• Academic 
• Digital Innovation & Future thinking
• Enviroment & Catering 
• Equalities, Diversity & Inclusion 
• Co-Curricular & Charities

Minutes are taken by the Chair and any pertinent points are fed back to the School Committee by them. 

The school magazine Unconquered Peaks, both print and online, and the junior, online version Unconquered Hills are opportunities for girls to express their opinions in a formal, journalistic form. 

Form times, PSHE sessions and workshops allow the girls to voice their opinions on aspects of pastoral care and issues which they feel should be addressed, or any gaps they feel to exist in the provision. Girls are also asked to respond to frequent surveys on firefly to allow staff to gauge their opinion on key issues.