Our School Councillors visit London

On Wednesday 12^th September 2018, our School Council, accompanied by Miss Arif, Mrs Evans and Mr Williams visited London. It was an extremely busy and long day. (We left school at 6.30am and returned at 8.30pm!) We went on the train to London and then we took the underground tube to travel around London. The purpose of the visit was to see how democracy works at the highest level. We visited The Houses of Parliament to learn more about how Great Britain is run. We were lucky enough to see part of a live debate taking place in The House of Commons. We also met up with the School Council of one of our partner schools (Turves Green Primary) while we were there. Both schools took part in a live debate at the Education Centre of the building. Our local MP Liam Byrne also came to talk to us and told us about he became interested in Politics as a young boy. 

We were also lucky enough to visit Westminster Abbey (which is a royal church where many of The Royal family have been married, including Prince William and Kate Middleton. There are also many kings and queens from the past who have been laid to rest there as well as other famous personalities including Isaac Newton and Charles Dickens. We saw the tomb of Mary Queen of Scots (who became Queen of Scotland when she was just six days old after her father died in battle) as well as tombs of other famous people in British History.

We had our lunch overlooking The River Thames and The London Eye. We also visited Trafalgar Square, Horse Guards Parade and had our picture taken outside Buckingham Palace! We had a lovely walk through St James’s Park which is one of the royal parks in London. The biggest surprise (well-kept by Mr Williams!) was our visit to Downing Street. We even had our picture taken outside Number 10 (where the Prime Minister Theresa May lives). Many people were looking at us with surprise and envy as most of the public are not allowed there. 

The day was absolutely fantastic, and despite our tiredness, we were praised by so many people for our excellent behaviour. We walked a total of 3.5hrs, covering 8 miles (an amazing 18500 steps! Everybody slept well that night. 

At Parkfield Community School, our School Council represents the children in each of our classes. The Councillors have been elected by their classmates, to best express the views and issues that arise in day-to-day school life. The School Councillor’s role is to express the views of fellow classmates and to discuss ideas that have been raised.

In our school council meetings we discuss ways of making Parkfield School a better place to be. After a school council meeting it is our job to feedback to our class and teachers.

Sometimes guests are invited to our meetings so that they can listen to ideas and suggestions from Parkfield's Pupils. At times we are given questions to ask and discuss, and then we share these with our class. We write important things down in our special School Council book and take the book to every meeting.

At Parkfield School, we hope we are helping to develop life skills. We believe that by contributing their views and expressing their feelings, pupils will be able to voice opinions and find solutions to everyday problems as they grow up. 

Our School Council realise the role they have is an extremely important one and that they need to try and be a good role-model for their classmates. Therefore it is very important that we always try our best to make good choices and do our best in our learning.

School Council 2018/2019

Year 3

3H: Abdelrahim Mohamed,   Isra Shafiq

3M: Sanah Zahidi, Maria Islam

3T: Momina Rafique, Mehek Mehwish

Year 4

4J: Arifa Siddiqa, Mustafa Omar

4KM: Ateeq Mohammed, Aqsa Aziz

4M: Mahib Rahman, Aziza Kahin

4W: Aaliya Mudei, Maryama Mohamed

Year 5

5B: Hashim Afzaal, Hamza Malik

5C: Hafsa Iqbal, Ehsan Uddin

5K: Dalha Ali, Ishrat Shah

Year 6

6B: Mohsin Hussain, Moosa Iqbal

6O: Tasniim Buni, Anzala Farhan

6P: Harris Khan, Isha Nadeem

6S: Hashir Jarral, Rihanna Sesay

Chair of School Council

My name is Hashir. I am in Year 6. I was elected to be the Chair of the School Council. This means I am the Head of all the Head Councillors! I was so shocked! I look forward to helping and supporting Miss Arif and Mr Williams. I hope I can help pupils with their learning and behaviour.

Vice-Chairpersons

My name is Tasniim and I am a Year 6 pupil. I am happy to be the Vice-Chairperson to the School Council along with Hashim. I feel I am capable of talking clearly and expressing my feelings. I would love to help the children younger than me to be confident too. I will have to support Hashir in his role too.

I am Hashim and I am in Year 5. When I found out I was elected to the Vice-Chairperson to the School Council with Tasniim, it was one of the best moments of my life! I will support the Chair (Hashir) and work with all the other councillors to make our school even better. I was so excited I wanted to jump with joy!

Clerk

I am Arifa from Year 4. I was so happy when I realised I was going to be Clerk to the School Council as I am very good at taking notes. I enjoy writing and I am good at it too. English is my favourite subject. I feel I can do this job well. Thank you for choosing me.

Media Officers

My name is Mahib and I am in Year 4. I was chosen to be Media Officer along with Aaliya and Hafsa. I think I will do a good job because I am always willing to share my ideas. We will be the first School Council to work on a newsletter for the children to take home. I want to make the best of this chance.

I am Aaliya and I am in Year 4. I am looking forward to working with the other children to let everyone know about what the School Council are doing and how everybody can support us. Being made Media Officer is an exciting chance for me.

My name is Hafsa and I am a Year 5 pupil. I am so happy to be Media Officer because I feel English is my strong point. I am imaginative and look forward to sharing my ideas for the newsletter and working with the other children to let everyone know about the School Council.

Promotions Officer

My name is Harris and I am in Year 6. I was thrilled to be named as Promotions Officer to the School Council. I am looking forward to telling the local community about what the School Council are doing. I will also have an important job in promoting any events we need to let everyone know about. I will be working with the Media Officers so we can do this together through the newsletter.

The School Council had a very busy week during the last week of school before half term. After a letter from our MP Liam Byrne informed us about the need for food donations for the local food bank, our councillors felt they needed to take action. Two of the councillors wrote a letter to parents/carers talking about the issue and asking for their support. With Miss Arif, they devised a list of suitable foods (long-life, non-perishable) and sent this out too. The Media Officers wrote their first half-termly newsletter which also reminded everyone the collection would be taking place at school for a week only (22^nd-26^thOct 2018).

We were astounded by the generosity and kindness of our families, the response was truly overwhelming. Every morning children were bringing in bags full of food to donate. When the food was collected on the last day, Liam Byrne’s secretaries were shocked at the sheer amount we had collected in the space of a week. They realised it would not fit in the two cars they had brought. This meant that Liam Byrne came to collect the rest in a bigger car after the holiday. We are so proud of our school councillors for all their hard work and effort. We are also grateful to our families and staff members who donated to this worthy cause.

Our school council are currently undertaking a project to promote the importance of blood donations within our local community. We have already had a visitor who has delivered an assembly telling Years 3, 4, 5 and 6 why blood donations are important. We have also designed some posters and we plan to do much, much more. 

October 2018

19th-Sept-2018

3rd-Oct-2018

20th-Nov-2018

5th-Dec-2018