Listening and Responding to the Pupil Voice
"Pupils demonstrate a strong sense of belonging to this welcoming, inclusive Catholic community. They welcome the fact that the school celebrates their individual gifts and talents and value the opportunities to share their views."
Section 48 Inspection, March 2022
The children of St Mary's are active members of their community and the school's leaderships listen carefully to them as part of an ongoing commitment to their needs and views. As a Christian school we believe passionately in servant leadership and this is at the heart of our ministry and practice.
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The School Council
St Mary's values the voice of its pupil body and sees this is an instrumental and necessary part of the school's development. The school council are elected by class mates and meet weekly with Mrs Pecchia to discuss a range of issues and decide on schoolwide projects. Recent issues have included a focus on the school's carbon footprint and encouraging pupils to seek greener methods of travelling to and from school. The council have introduced a special scheme, where the distance walked, scooted and cycled to school is calculated and monitored as a journey around the world. They have worked with the Local Authority and purchased scooter pods and bike racks as well as designing very exciting playground markings, including a scooter track! The council have previously focused on equality at the school and worked with Kate Murphy on ensuring all pupils and their families feel welcomed.
Chaplaincy Team
Our Chaplaincy Team are annually commisioned by Bishop Declan in the Autumn at Clifton Cathedral in Bristol. They meet weekly with Mrs Pecchia to pray and look at ways that they can develop the prayer life of our school. Our team also hold a range of charitable events which have recently included a harvest collection appeal for the local foodbank, collecting items for refugees in our local community and raising funds for CAFOD. Recent projects included designing prayer towers made from pebbles. These towers were located in different parts of the school grounds for pupils and adults to use.
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Curriculum and Subject Forums/ Focus Groups
The leadership of St Mary's believes passionately in evaluating its provision for pupils so the pupil voice is often consulted to obtain feedback. Subject and senior leaders meet with pupils from across the school, often randomly chosen, to discuss and assess the different curriculum areas. So far this academic year leaders have met with pupils to discuss RE, behaviour and learning styles.
The school actively uses its VLE (virtual learning environment) to obtain feedback from its pupils. Our IT leader, Mr Gailor, can design and assign a range of questionnaires, forums and forms which can be safely accessed and completed by the children.