Pupil Voice

At Westdene Primary School, we pride ourselves in the amount and variation of opportunities that children have to share their opinions and talents. We are delighted to share the vast range of opportunities for children to have a voice in the way our school is run and to develop leadership skills in our pupils. 

You can also find out more about our 'Philosophy 4 Children' programme at the bottom of this page.

Role
School councilor 

Responsibility
Pupils meet together to discuss and complete projects to improve the school. They listen to and represent the views of their class in these meetings. 

How the Role is Distributed
One boy and one girl are elected from each class.

Year Group
1-6 

Led By
The Senior Leadership Team 

Role
Eco councilor 

Responsibility
Pupils promote care for the school environment and community by encouraging recycling, sustainable travel and other eco projects. 

How the Role is Distributed
One pupil is elected from each class.  

Year Group
1-6

Led By
Ms Fooks

Role

Arts ambassador

Responsibility

Pupils promote the arts in their class and across the school and participate in school wide or community projects.

How the Role is Distributed

One pupil is elected from each class.  

Year Group
1-6

Led By

Mrs Laing

Role

Junior Friends of Westdene

Responsibility

Pupils meet with FOW committee to help plan fundraising events.

How the Role is Distributed

One boy and one girl are elected from each class.  

Year Group
3-6

Led By

Ms Stratton & the FOW

Role

Language Leaders & Cultural Ambassadors

Responsibility

Pupils extend their language knowledge and use in order to act as ambassadors for the Language Department and support and encourage younger learners in the school and support cultural enrichment. 

How the Role is Distributed

One boy and one girl are elected from each class.

Year Group
3-6

Led By

Madame Mawes

Role

Reading Champions

Responsibility

Pupils support others with reading and share a love of literature. 

How the Role is Distributed

Pupils are invited to apply.

Year Group
4-6

Led By

Ms Hagon

Role

Play Leaders

Responsibility

Pupils play, organise games and supervise the equipment for Reception and Infants during their lunch break each day. The children are on a rota which is changed every half term.

How the Role is Distributed

Pupils are invited to apply.

Year Group
5

Led By

Mrs Brockwell

Role

Ambassadors

Responsibility

Pupils show visitors around the school. During prospective parent events all of Year 6 do this together.

How the Role is Distributed

Teachers choose pairs of children and keep a record to ensure all pupils have the opportunity to take on this role.

Year Group
5-6

Led By

Class teachers

Role

Charities Committee

Responsibility

Pupils organise events and activity to raise money for designated charities throughout the year. They take a lead in Red Nose Day/ children in Need/ Harvest Festival etc. 

How the Role is Distributed

Pupils are invited to apply.

Year Group
4-6

Led By

Ms Hagon

Role

Sports captains

Responsibility
Some of the key responsibilities of our Sports Captains include:

• To work together as part of the team of Sports Captains.

• To work with the P.E. Co-ordinator to organise and maintain school sports equipment.

• To help promote the importance of taking part in regular sports and exercise whilst promoting a healthy lifestyle.

• To support staff in organising House sports which may include events such as, inter-school sports competitions, extra-curricular sports activities and sports day.

• To help run and referee House sports events as required.

• To wear the Sports Captain’s badge with pride.

As well as the above responsibilities, a Sports Captain is expected to be a positive role model in terms of attitude, attendance, behaviour, manners and appearance to all members of the Westdene community.

How the Role is Distributed

Pupils are invited to apply.

Year Group
6

Led By

Ms Elliott

Role

Wet play monitors

Responsibility

Pupils are assigned to different classes to support wet playtimes.

How the Role is Distributed

Children register an interest.

Year Group
6

Led By

Mr Bradstreet

At Westdene we are delighted to have staff expertise in delivering Philosophy 4 Children. 

What is Philosophy?
The origin of the word philosophy come the greek words philos and sophy, whose literal translation is ‘the love of wisdom’. It is trying to work out our own best answers to questions that human beings will always be wondering about.

Why teach Philosophy?
A 2015 Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) Efficacy Trial carried out by Durham University into SAPERE Philosophy 4 Children (P4C) showed that:

• Teachers and pupils reported that SAPERE P4C had a positive influence on wider outcomes such as pupils’ confidence to speak, listening skills, and self-esteem.

• SAPERE P4C has a very positive impact on disadvantaged children (those eligible for free school meals). These children made 4 months' additional progress in reading, 3 months' additional progress in maths and 2 months' additional progress in writing in the study. 

• Key Stage Two pupils taking part in the trial made two additional months' progress in reading and maths.

Our approach so far...
During the spring term 2020 our Philosophy Club met regularly to discuss some big questions that led to lots of deep thinking and rich discussion. The club was so successful, we are currently working as a team to review our curriculum to ensure we find more opportunities to weave Philosophy 4 Children principles across our curriculum. We are also exploring how we can utilise Philosophy 4 Children principles in our regular school council meetings. 

Philosophy Day - 14th June 2024

On the 14th June 2024 we held a Philosophy day at school for pupils and parents. We were visited by Tom the Philosophy Man who had this to say after his visit:

"It was an absolute pleasure to work with pupils (and parents!) at Westdene today. The hard work of staff to embed deeper questioning techniques into their lessons, to unlock children's voices and abilities to think "outside the box" was apparent from the very first hour of my day. I know Philosophy at the school will go from strength to strength, not only through special days like today but also weekly sessions that improve the children's reasoning."

Tom Bigglestone, The Philosophy Man

You can see our Tweet about the day here:  https://x.com/WestdenePS/status/1801562966711509174