Northwood Pupil Consultation

NORTHWOOD PUPIL CONSULTATION

Overdale School Council meeting

14 April 2008

Present: Cathy Burns, Learning Mentor, Overdale School

Members of Overdale School Council: Paul Woods Ellie McLoughlin Thomas Anderson Kayleigh Gibson Dana Fulton James McDougall Brodie Lowe Billy Woods Mollie Williams Dylan Riley

Lynda Richardson, Children’s Services Manager, DCS Norma Turner, Special Educational Needs Officer, DCS Victoria Wright, Project Manager, DCS Lynne Bennett, School Organisation Officer, DCS

Introductions Ellie and Paul escorted the officers from DCS to the classroom and everyone introduced themselves.

Background Members of the School Council undertook a survey of their classes about the proposal to close three schools and build one new school. The survey was called “Our New School”. During the survey all pupils were asked by their School Council representative what they would like to see in the new school and the issues they were concerned about. These were recorded in the School Council note book for each class and the School Council prepared a presentation outlining the issues and questions raised. The presentation was given to officers from DCS on 14 April. Subsequently the School Council representatives raised the following questions:

Thomas asked What the new school will be called? Lynda replied that the name of the school will be decided by the new school’s governing body but before a decision is made the governing body will ask for suggestions from the three schools. A suggestion from the School Council was to call the new school North Overwood School. Lynda explained that we are not yet at the point of making decisions about the name but when we reach that point the School Council will be asked for suggestions by the governing body of the new school.

Mollie asked What colour the uniform will be? Lynda replied that the same situation will apply to the uniform and that the whole community – the governing body, the teachers, parents and pupils from the three schools will have a chance to make suggestions about the colour of the uniform. She also stressed that if the governors of the new school forget to ask the pupils that the members of the School Council should remind them.

Brodie stated that she would like the uniform to be blue or black as this is very smart. Lynda explained that she could suggest that to the governing body when the time is right and hopefully the governing body of the new school will make a fair decision based on all the suggestions put forward.

Thomas stated that all three schools have red in the school jumper. Lynda explained that some people might want something different to what they have now or the colour red could be kept and the school could have a new badge; all these decisions being made by the new governing body.

Paul asked What is the point of all this, and is it to do with All Saints? Lynda explained that one of the main reasons for building a new school to replace Overdale, Simonswood and Northern Support is because there are no longer enough pupils to fill all of Overdale and Simonswood. Lynda explained that Overdale was originally built to have two classes in every school year and Simonswood was meant to have one class in every school year, but across all three schools there are now fewer children but the heating and lighting bills still have to be paid for the whole building.

Paul asked How many children will be in each class? Lynda replied that there would be 30 in each class, with 60 in each year group.

Dana stated that the School Council has visited Simonswood and Northern Support to see what they do and how they work, and Simonswood and Northern came to Overdale to play and to see how Overdale work. Lynda asked Dana if that made her feel more comfortable about meeting new people in other schools and Dana agreed that it did.

Mrs Burns advised that the three schools are aiming to have at least one visit together per term.

Lynda advised the School Council that it is important that the governing body of the new school know that they have been working together and that when the time comes to put forward suggestions she suggested that the three School Councils can come together and put the suggestions forward. James asked What will happen to the teachers in their school? Lynda replied that because it will be a new school it can’t be the governing body of either Overdale or Simonswood who make decisions, so first there has to be a new temporary governing body. The governing body will appoint the teachers in the new school and the teachers in Overdale will have the right to apply for a job in the new school, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that all the teachers will go to the new school.

Kayleigh asked What will happen if the new school isn’t built properly? Victoria explained that the builders who are building the new learning centre in Roughwood Drive will also build the new school. Victoria explained that there will be a design festival in June when all the schools’ teachers, parents and pupils will be asked what they want in the new school. Victoria also explained that when the building work starts there will be lots of checks by other officers from Knowsley Council to make sure that the work is being done properly.

Lynda stated that it’s a little bit like Christmas, when you write a Christmas list but you can’t have everything on the list, so it will be the same for the new school, as you won’t be able to have everything you want in the new school due to financial or building restrictions. She also stated that when Victoria holds the design festival we’ll look at how much money we have and what we can afford to have in the new school.

Kayleigh stated that pupils from Ruffwood and Brookfield are always fighting and arguing after school. Victoria explained that in the same way that Overdale, Simonswood and Northern support have started visiting each other, so have Ruffwood and Brookfield schools started working together, so we can stop these problems from happening.

Brodie stated that the school has just won £750 for its recycling project, which will be spent on the greenhouse. Lynda was very impressed with the environmental concerns of the School Council and explained to the School Council that she used to be a teacher and when she was teaching she would have liked to have outdoor space for every class, and that the greenhouse is a very good idea.

Kayleigh asked Do we have to move to the new site? Lynda explained that it is the proposal that Overdale move to a new, neutral site but if the School Council felt they wanted the new school on their site that we would make a note of their views.

Mrs Burns explained that the Owl Paper from 2004 stated that there will be a new school so some decisions were made a long time ago.

Lynda reminded the School Council that it’s three schools coming together to form a new school and it might not feel like a new school if it was on one of the existing school sites and that they will also have access to the new facilities in the secondary learning centre being built on the site. Dana asked What the school badge will be like? Lynda advised that if she were on the School Council she would start getting ideas together with the other two School Councils as the governing body of the new school will want to know that the three schools have been working together.

Thomas asked Can we keep “Work and Shake”? Lynda explained that that is one of the things that staff in the new school will decide, but that the School Council needs to talk to about aspects of their curriculum that they would like to keep.

Brodie stated that year 6 won’t be in the school when the new school opens. Lynda agreed that year 6 will be in the new learning centres but they will have the new facilities in the new learning centres.

Kayleigh asked What will the learning centre will be called? Victoria stated that it will be called the “something” Centre for Learning but a new name hasn’t been decided yet.

Mollie asked What will happen to the nursery when the school gets knocked down? Lynda explained that there will be enough classes in the new school for everyone who goes to Overdale and that it was lovely of Mollie to think about the little ones.

Thomas asked Where will we be while the new school is being built? Lynda explained that everyone will stay in their own school, and the new school is being built on a different site so that the children don’t have to move out before the new school opens.

James asked Will the new school will be bigger? Lynda said that she didn’t know if it would be bigger than Overdale, as Overdale is a big school, and that the government tells Knowsley Council how big the school should be, so it might not feel bigger to Overdale pupils but it will look very different because it will be a new design. Lynda also explained that everyone will be able to influence plans at the Design festival and also look at plans for the new school once they’ve been drawn up.

Dana asked How many pupils will be in the new school? Lynda said there will be 30 pupils in each class and two classes in each year group, and she asked Dana how many pupils are in her class. Dana stated that she is in year 6 and there are 35 pupils.

Norma informed the School Council that a lot of children who attend Northern Primary Support Centre won’t be able to cope with a big environment in the new school, so they will have a separate area of the school, but that some of the pupils will join in classes such as PE, but they will have separate classes for some other subjects. Lynda explained that some pupils are good at PE and some are good at maths or science or other subjects and that some of the pupils from Northern Support who would like to join in with other classes can’t do it as they are too far away, but in the new school they’ll be able to join in more lessons.

Billy asked Will the new school have a timetable like Ruffwood School? Lynda explained that she didn’t know because the new headteacher and governors will decide on this.

Dana asked Why can’t things stay the same? Lynda explained that there aren’t enough pupils to fill the schools and there isn’t enough money to build three new schools, so we have to build one new school for all the pupils.

Lynda then provided some comments on the written suggestions put forward by the School Council in their powerpoint presentation and the subjects we have covered in the question and answer session:

- school uniform and badge - a new school name - teachers and IT

Lynda explained that toys and equipment can be moved to the new school if the new headteacher wants to do that.

Billy asked if Lynda is doing All Saints. Lynda explained that she is a Children’s Services Manger and she is involved with primary age children, and that we all have different roles, so other people will be involved with All Saints.

Dylan asked about who is doing Ruffwood and Brookfield. Victoria explained that she is part of a team of staff who are responsible for making sure that the new school is built properly and Lynda explained that everyone in the Council has a job to do but we all do different things.

Final Question: Are we getting a new headteacher? Lynda explained that like the teachers the new school will need a new Headteacher and the headteachers in the 3 schools that are closing will be able to go for the job.