Student Voice' Important

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Student Voice. Important?

• Why Is Student Voice Important? What Difference
  Will Giving Students A Voice Make?
• By Ashley (Year 9)

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Student Voice. What is it?

• Student Voice gives students the opportunity
  to change their school environment and the way
  they learn. Student Voice involves a lot of
  people from across the school including students
  and staff. They meet regularly to discuss issues
  raised from students across the school.

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Student Voice. Why?

• Student Voice was set up so that students can
  get the most out of Ringwood School. With the
  students being the consumer, why do many schools
  just ask the adults? So if we give students the
  voice, wouldnt that make more sense?

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So What Can Student Voice Achieve?
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Learning.

• Students can make changes to learning to a
  certain extent. We believe that this helps
  students very much, rather than adults being
  asked how can improvements be made and then the
  students having to put up with changes that may
  not be benefiting them.

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Learning Changes.

• Students have made or are making the following
  changes
• Better reward system,
• Clearer detention stages so its the same with
  every member of staff,
• More team work rather than individual work 100
  of the time.
• A guide to staff about what helps with marking

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Environment.

• The most common type of request is about the
  school environment. These changes are important
  because students may point out things that the
  staff just would not notice. If the school
  environment isn't very good the students will not
  enjoy school as much and consequently will not do
  as well. These changes are vital.

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Environment Changes

• Students have made changes to the environment
  like
• New benches,
• Trees planted,
• New equipment such as sporting gear,
• School events like discos,
• And more displays around the school about
  learning.

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How can pupils have there voice heard?

• Students can have their voice heard in many ways.
  How their ideas get heard follows a method like
  this.

Ideas
Student Dialogue groups
Year Council
Learning Talks
Learning Walks
School Council
Head Teacher
Governors
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Year Council

• There are 5 councils. One for every year, made up
  of a boy and girl representative from each tutor
  group. R,I,N,G,L,W,U,D,S and H. So there are 20
  students. There are also 2 sixth formers (one boy
  and one girl) who run each year council meeting.
  Also the head of year may attend the meetings.
  Any ideas which are agreed to be taken into
  further consideration then get taken to the
  school council.

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School Council

• The School Council is made up from a boy and
  girl from each year council plus invited
  individuals therefore the average turn out is
  15. Students run the meetings. This group of
  people meet once every half term, the week after
  the year councils. They quite often have other
  meetings as well. Once the ideas have been
  passed, they get taken to the Headteacher. If she
  agrees, the idea is taken to the governors.

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Student Dialogue Groups.

• On top of the councils there are student
  dialogue groups also known as learning research
  groups. These groups are split up into Learning
  Walks and Learning Talks. Their task is to
  research ways in which we could improve learning
  and the school environment rather than just what
  adults think.

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Learning Talks

• Learning Talks are the in school research
  group. Their main job is to find out what helps
  and hinders learning. They find this out by
  conducting questionnaires and discussion to find
  out what kind of learners students are. They then
  take this information into account and find ways
  in which they can suggest changes in teachers
  teaching styles.

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Learning Walks

• Learning Walks are the out school research
  group. Between Prieslands (Lymington), Twynham
  (Christchurch) and Ringwood (Ringwood). We
  visited each others schools and spent the morning
  there. Firstly we took a tour on their school
  learning environment and second we each sat in on
  various lessons and observed their learning
  styles. We would then talk about a specific area,
  such as rewards, marking and teaching styles. We
  then took these ideas back to our own school to
  see how we can further improve our school.

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Walks and Talks Conclusion

• As a group, both Walks and Talks are going to
  make a presentation to the whole teaching staff
  on our next INSET day. This will be presenting
  our findings and what we think we should
  incorporate into our school. We will then run
  through a list. Some of the changes will be
  instant others will take time but this is a
  extremely good way of improving the school in the
  way the students want to.

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Specialist Schools Trust

• This is the greatest way of students who aren't
  sixth formers of having their say. This is a
  regional thing where schools from across the area
  discuss the future of learning and how we can
  change the county as a whole. Two year 9
  students, of which I am one, visit a school each
  term with our head teacher and assistant head
  teacher to discuss these issues.

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What Student Voice means Beyond Ringwood School
Other Participation

• There are many ways in which students can
  participate in Student Voice beyond Ringwood
  School. These include
• RSR live!
• (Ringwood School Radio)
• Online debates
• Virtual learning environments.
• Citizenship days

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What Student Voice means Beyond Ringwood School
Other Participation

• Eco schools
• European student conference
• Student parliament debates
• A Y11 girl is member of the UK Youth Parliament
  for Hampshire
• Local, District and County council Youth Forums
• Students working with the town council,
  discussing how Ringwood can become a Fair Trade
  town.

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Why is Student Voice important?

• Student Voice is important because it is vital
  to know what improvements to student learning can
  be made so they can get more out of being a
  student and having the right to express their
  voice. As long as we continue to operate this
  system we will understand what changes we need to
  make so students get the most out of their
  learning.

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What difference will student voice make?

• Student voice is making a huge difference in
  the future of learning at Ringwood School and of
  what facilities will be available to future
  generations who attend Ringwood School. We must
  keep this up and get students involved in every
  possible way so they can have their say.

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Student Voice
Ringwood School