Today, the School Council joined many other schools at the Southbank Centre to participate in the WHY? Protest Parade. This was part of a wider festival celebrating the rights of children and young people: ‘WHY? WHAT’S HAPPENING FOR THE YOUNG’. The School Council made their own placards and chanted songs on the demonstration.
How many children does it take to design a play space?
For year 2 who worked alongside architects McCreanor Lavington, the answer is 45. Yesterday year 2 thought about the issue of how to apportion space in our new outdoor spaces. The children decided against giving the same allocation of space to different types of learning and play and identified the type of play children in year 2 enjoyed most. ‘Making and Playing in Dens’ came out as the favourite option with playing on ‘obstacle courses’ in second place.
The School Council have also played an advisory role to the architects. They reviewed all the plans and designs and asked lots of very sensible questions. They also photographed elements of the school they liked and disliked. Well done and thank you to School Councillors as your contribution was greatly valued. The architects will share the revised designs with the school council in September 2014.
Charles Dickens is awarded the School Toilet Award
Congratulations to school council who found out today that they had been awarded the School Toilet Award for all their hard working improving the school toilets for pupils. Congratulations to you all!
School Council Minutes ‘Calling all Scientists’- 6/1/12
School Council Challenge
Miss Chapleo has set the school council a challenge! She would like lots of scientists to come into school during Science Week (starts Monday 12th March).
Who could we invite? The school council are going to take suggestions from their classes.
There are lots of people who are scientists and the school council also pointed out that there are lots of professions where you use science. Here are some of the jobs that we thought of but there are many more – perhaps you have some ideas!
- Doctors
- Pharmacists
- Dentists
- Gardeners/ Botanists
- Farmers – agricultural sciences
- Astronauts (wishful thinking we know)
- Chefs – food scientists
- Athletes – sports scientists
- Footballers – have nutritionists, physiotherapists etc
- Student Scientists
If you know anybody who does any of these jobs, perhaps you could ask them if they would like to visit a class or (bravely) the whole school, during science week. Please can you email the office their details :
office@charlesdickens.southwark.sch.uk
Or bring in their contact details (telephone number or email address)into the school office so we can arrange for them to come in.
Thank you
School Council
PS: have you seen the Royal Institution Christmas Lectures on the BBC – all about the brain and so interesting – perfect if you are in year 5/6 and above.
School Council Minutes – friends around the world!
School Council Minutes – Thursday 3rd November 2011
Focus: Ideas for ways to link with our partner schools in Gloucestershire (UK), Paris (France) and Karonga (Malawi)
We shared our ideas for ways in which we can become better friends with the children from our partner schools.
Our ideas were:
- Send letters / postcards
- Use school blogs
- Use the webcam and Skype
- Email each other
- Send presents / parcels / make things
- Learn the languages that they speak
Update:
- Year 1/2 – Nickleby have been emailing scientists in the Antarctica
- Year 3/4 – Last year we wrote to our pen pals in Malawi
- Year 5/6 – This year they have written to their pen pals in Eastington Primary School and received a reply when they were at Wick Court Farm. They have met their friends when they visited Eastington just before October half term. They have just finished writing their letters to their French pen pals and these are going to be sent.
Actions:
- Year 1/2 – teachers in Pickwick and Oliver to email scientists in the Antarctica
- Year 3/4 – Macy is going to speak to Ms Rhys-Evans to plan in Literacy for children to write to their friends in Malawi
- Year 5/6 – Bridgett is going to speak to Miss Robertson to plan in Literacy for children to write thank you notes.
If you are a pupil at one of our partner schools, perhaps you have some ideas as well?
School Council Minutes – Lunches and the Elephant!
School Council Minutes – Friday 7th October 2011
School Councillors representing their classes meet fortnightly. They are focusing on how to make school lunches even more enjoyable by surveying their classmates on their favourite school lunch option. Classes shared their favourite meal and desert. The most popular main meals were:
- Roast chicken (5)
- Pizza (1)
- Pasta (1)
- Fish fingers (1)
The most popular puddings were:
- Ice cream (4)
- Cherry crumble (1)
- Chocolate crumble and custard (1)
- Jelly (1)
The School council met Ciron who is an architect working on the Elephant & Castle regeneration project. He described the scale of the project and showed school council the proposed map. School council gave their ideas on how the area could be improved.
School Council Feedback
The school council have been reflecting on school lunches and how to make them even more delicious. Each councillor ( there are two in every class) has spoken to their class and gathered ideas from their peers on what is already great about school lunches and what new dishes they would like to see on the menu.
The school councillors then spoke to our cook, Alison, about each of the suggested dishes to see if they were suitable. Here is their feedback from classes and from their meeting with Alison.
What our children like about lunches:
- Sitting at round tables
- The healthiness of the menu
- The daily salad bar
- Eating from red plates, proper cutlery and cups
- Having handwash in the halls.
New menu ideas from classes:
- Kebabs – The cooks said that these are difficult to make for lots of children and that the kebab sticks could be dangerous
- Spaghetti and vegetables – The cook reassured the school council that this dish is already on our menu!
- Fajitas and Mexican food – The cook liked this idea and would look into healthier Mexican dishes such as Mexican Chicken.
- Tandoori Chicken – The cook liked this idea too and said she would look into adding this.
- Chicken soup – This was another nice idea, thought the cook, and she would look into adding this soon.
Obviously our children enjoy spicy food at the moment and it was great to see how they like healthier options as well as the occasional treat. The school council has now been asked to find out what the favourite school lunch and dessert is. We wonder what they will be…