The story so far….

Welcome to Pentrehafod Student Parliament’s new blog! We will be posting monthly updates here to keep you informed of everything we have been up to.

Here are some of the things we have been involved in over the current school year:

• A new Student Parliament was set up with pupils voting for representatives in each form. Interested students wrote manifestos and presented their ideas to their form classes. Unfortunately this year we couldn’t hold our regular voting day due to COVID restrictions, so instead held our first virtual voting system! Pupils were voted in and successful candidates were announced by Learning Leaders in October.
• Year Councils were set up and had started to meet fortnightly. This has now continued online throughout lockdown.
• KS3 Student Parliament members were involved in trialling lessons for the Children’s Commissioner’s Office. Pupils evaluated ‘Project Vote’ lessons which looked at elections in Wales as 16-year-olds can now vote this year.
• Year 10 have met to discuss how they can work alongside year 6 and 7 pupils to ensure transition is as empathic as possible.
• Year 8 have started to review the options process and have given their feedback on what has worked well and what they would like to see in the future.
• Our Head Boy and Girl, Leah Lopes and Tahmid Hussan were involved in interviewing the new Director of Education for Swansea – an excellent opportunity for both!
• Pupil voice mornings have continued to run each Friday (now virtually!) with pupils having the opportunity to feedback on topics to their form representatives.
• The year 11 senior prefect team have been involved in key discussions with staff regarding centre assessed grades.
• And finally, year 10 met with South Wales Police this week to discuss crime in the local area, what they would like to see from the police and how to improve engagement with young people.

A busy start to the year for the Student Parliament!

Here is what we have got coming up…

• Year 7 students will be meeting to discuss transition and how the school can support our cluster primaries.
• An online workshop with the UK Parliament so our members can find out more about how our government works!
• Year 9 will be working alongside Swansea University to research cyberbullying and the effects it has on young people.
• A ‘return to school’ focus group for students
• And of course our weekly pupil voice mornings (remember to check your emails for the link) and fortnightly Year Council Meetings.