- Our school parliament aims to promote pupil leadership opportunities and enables children to develop valuable communication, organisation and debating skills through key roles, responsibilities and new experiences.
- Through 11 different committees the aim is to ensure that all areas of life at Branfil are represented.
- The parliament structure teaches the children about democracy and British Values. The work that the children participate in reflects our school values of Love, Explore, Aspire, Respect and Nurture.
- As a member of the parliament, the children learn that we can work together to make a positive difference to our school community as well as the wider community.
- Pupils relish the opportunity to become a greater part of the school life, enjoy making their voices heard and can see the impact that their contributions make to life at Branfil.
How does the Branfil Parliament work?
- The parliament structure provides opportunities for one third of our pupils from Year 1 to Year 6 to be actively involved in the way that Branfil Primary School is run.
- Branfil Parliament is divided into 11 committees which meet with a teacher to discuss issues raised by their classes and other important areas that they want to promote and improve.
- Once a year all committees come together in an assembly to share the work of the Branfil Parliament as a collective, with the whole school.
- In each class there is a folder which provides all pupils with the opportunity to make representations to their school parliament members. These folders are checked before meetings and any feedback or suggestions brought to the meeting for discussion.
2022-23 Achievements
Arts Committee | Designed a variety of competitions for children to enter. The competitions ranged from photography and drawing to sketching and graffiti. |
Branfil Ambassadors | Spread love in the local community by delivering Christmas and Easter Cards. Visited the London Assembly and explored their understanding of Local Government. Aspired to be good role models by representing the school during open day tours, the book looks, the Christmas Bazaar, the Summer Fair, the Father’s and Mother’s day sales and Sports Day. Shown respect by selling poppies and reading Flanders Fields at the school remembrance service. They nurtured the Reception children at the Stay and Play sessions. |
Curriculum Committee | Researched and created a list of songs that link to our curriculum, to help children learn and remember more. Met with the Governors to talk about learning across the curriculum. Discussed British Values and shared ideas about how life at Branfil and the curriculum reflects the British Values. |
Digital Leaders | Tested out new software for Maths games and online safety. Led assemblies, supported a lunchtime club, tried out new websites and learnt more about how the computers in the school work. |
Diversity and Difference Committee | Carried out an online survey to find out if children consider themselves to be different from others and if people treat them differently. The results from 355 children were analysed and the committee members fed back to their classes. |
Eco Committee | Focused on increasing the biodiversity of the flowers, plants and trees on the school grounds. Planted crocus bulbs at the front of the school, wildflower seeds to attract bees and insects in the Reception garden. Worked with Thames Chase to plant a variety of trees in the Forest School area. Involved with improving the grass area being used for OPAL by adding bird feeders and a bird bath. |
Maths Ambassadors | The TTRS fundraiser raised £756.95. With this money the school has purchased a Giant Wooden Outdoor Scales and Buckets Set and an Outdoor Jumbo Guttering and Channelling Set. This is going to be used outside at lunchtime and is the start of maths being included as part of OPAL. |
Peer Mentors | Led different sporting events on Friday lunchtimes such as hockey tournaments, tag rugby and netball. Attended all sports days to set up, run events and complete the scoring for each house team. Received training from Mrs Mead to help them know how to deal with different situations restoratively so they could mentor other children if they were upset or needed a friendly face. |
Reading Ambassadors | Ensured that the library is the best that it can be. Took part in the Branfil Book Awards, to see which books they thought were suitable to have in our school and class library and then purchased extra copies for the library. They have currently raised £100 for the outside reading area. |
Well-being Champions | Planned activities for Children’s Mental Health week, given each class a positivity poster to display on the door, made sure that everyone is using the ‘I want my teacher to know boxes’ and organised a lunchtime wellbeing group. Placed an order for friendship stop signs that will be put on the playground. |