Readers may remember that a couple of weeks ago I wrote about my visit to Tanbridge House School in Horsham.
I really enjoyed my discussions with students and so I invited them to write this week’s article.
Sam Waller (Year 9) and Josh Trout (Year 10) explain a bit more about their Student Board:
It was a pleasure for us to meet Mr Maude at Tanbridge House School on Friday May 11.
We were chosen to meet him as part of Tanbridge House School’s Student Board group.
The board is one of many Student Groups in the school and together these make up the Student Voice.
Mr Maude was intrigued by the Student Voice that we have at Tanbridge which includes Student Board, Eco Representatives, Charity Representatives, the Rights, Respecting, Responsibilities (RRR) group, Senior Prefects and the Specialist Schools group.
As members of Student Board, he was particularly interested in what we had to say about our group.
We explained that we are here to represent students and we pass their queries and ideas to school governors and senior members of staff.
Our aim is to implement successful ideas to benefit the school, making it a better learning environment for all.
Mr Maude described Student Board as the Cabinet of the school, which is a very accurate analogy.
We represent our fellow peers, just like Members of Parliament represent the general public and both of our objectives are to benefit the majority.
Student Board also hosts Question Time events a couple of times a year where students have the opportunity to ‘grill’ senior members of staff, governors and members of the local council about issues that are important to them.
Student Board has been involved in interviewing candidates for teaching positions for at least the last five years.
We think this is a great idea, because after all, we are the ones that are going to be directly impacted.
We are currently setting up a Student Board web page where students can anonymously contact Student Board with their ideas and feedback.
This will help students who may not have felt comfortable approaching a member of the group with their ideas.
Mr Maude showed a genuine interest in the school whilst he was here and it was fascinating to hear what he had to say.
It was an honour for both of us to be selected to take part.