Pupils

We encourage pupils to take part in the welfare and running of the school and believe that offering responsibilities to them is an important part in developing them for the future.

School Council

The School Council meets every couple of weeks and is responsible for discussing any issues that the children of our school raise.

Last year the school council discussed and made changes to the school uniform, playground equipment marking and seating areas. They have even had a meeting with the cook to discuss menus and themed menu days.

House Captains

At St Joseph's school we have a house point system, which involves four houses: David's - yellow, Andrew's - blue, Patrick's - green and George's- red.

In each year, the classes are divided into four groups and are put into these houses. The pupils have to behave themselves throughout the school day, be hard-working in class and be polite to all teachers and staff to earn house points. This system is enjoyable as it makes us want to do our best so that we can earn points and I think that it is just a bit of fun. I have never experienced people bullying each other over how many house points they achieved, we all congratulate each other on how many we got and everyone tries their hardest.

Finally, after a week the house points are collected and Mr O'Hara tells us the results on a Friday mornings assembly with some parents. Everybody is shaking in the hall, suspense fills the room! I think that Mr O'Hara also makes the results a very tense moment and makes everyone say in their heads: "Just tell us, we want to know!" It makes me feel like I want to shout that out anyway!

The house points are collected by some of the Year 6 children. The Juniors have little blue booklets and the Infants have a different scheme of keeping the record. We all go into assembly and then Mr O'Hara reads out the totals added up and at the end of the month he will read the overall score of the houses.

When the winner is announced the two House Captains in Year 6 come and collect the trophy with their colour ribbon on the handles.

Everybody in the school enjoys this scheme. I personally think that it is great as you have a responsibility to remember your scores and to try your hardest through all the school weeks. It is fun, achievable and lively!

by a Year 6 pupil

Peer Mediators

The Peer Mediators comprise of a number of Year 6 pupils.

During the Autumn Term, all Year pupils undergo intensive Peer Mediation Training.

The mediators have a rota with two on duty each lunchtime.

How it works: If pupils need assistance to settle an argument, quarrel or disagreement, they approach the mediators who assist them in, not sorting the situation but, to positively support them in reaching a successful and amicable outcome.

Does it work? When we first started peer mediating we were dealing with eight or nine children every lunchtime, after a few months this had reduced to one or two, sometimes even none. Obviously, Peer Mediation works!

Monitors

Year 6 pupils also embark on many other duties to help the smooth running of the school these are carried out on a rota/volunteer basis and include

Register Monitors: these collect and return the registers from the school office both in the morning and afternoon.

Library Monitors: these use the ICT login system to scan and shelve the returned books, they also tidy and re order the displays and maintain the books in the Dewy system and A-Z of authors.

Lunch Box Monitors: these collect the lunch boxes from the cloakrooms before lunch and deliver them to the Dining Hall ready for the younger pupils and then return them after lunch ready to be taken home.