School Council Meeting 8 th December 2017 Attendees: Head of Mediators Head of Mediators Year 1S Year 3F Year 3S Year 4B Year 4T Year 5P Year 5S Year 6A Year 6F Tianna (Chair) Simon Nefertari Emily Layan Klajdi Rhian Autumn Emilia Prisha Abeer Mr Leeming, Ms Campbell, Mr Charman, Ms McEnroe (Minutes) Apologies: Bailey, Hanu, Laiyla, Nefertari, Reuben, Ria Item Note Action 1. Welcome Tianna welcomed the attendees to the meeting. Attendees made introductions. Tianna stated that she would be asking questions and inviting attendees to respond. 2. Minutes of the Last Meeting on 17/10/17 Mr Leeming Mr Leeming took attendees through the minutes of the last meeting on 17/10/17. Ms McEnroe confirmed that she had spoken to Ms Frost about the children s comments about the toilets. Mr Leeming confirmed that he had brought Ruben s suggestion about the re-use of school uniform to the school office and it was agreed that this was a good idea. 3. Q1. How are the Toilets? - Tianna Layan stated that the state of the toilets had slightly improved. Simon said that this was true, but they had not improved as much as he had hoped for. Mr Leeming said he thought that at present the situation was worse because one of the toilets was closed off as it was blocked. He stated that Ms Frost was working on this.
Simon would like the toilets improved a bit more. Layan would like to see less throwing of tissues. Action: Ms McEnroe will feed Simon s views back to Ms Frost. Ms McEnroe 4. Q2. How are you treated by the adults at Melcombe? - Tianna Prisha said that an adult was going through the lunch hall and told her to scrape her plate. Another adult then contradicted this. The adult who had given the wrong instruction apologised. Mr Leeming said that it was good that the mistake had been recognised and Prisha had received an apology. Layan said that she is treated very kindly and that the teachers were good. Kladji stated that children were treated how they are meant to be treated. He said that if children were badly behaved, they should expect to be shouted at and that if they are good, they should expect to be told they are good. Mr Leeming stated that Melcombe is a No Shouting School. Children should not be shouted at in school. Autumn commented that, in the past, when she has been well behaved and other children have not, the others get praised when they correct their behaviour, but she has not been praised for behaving well all along. Mr Leeming said that this type of situation is something teachers at Melcombe are aware of and children who attract attention with bad behaviour can then get more attention than others. Mellows were introduced to address this problem and reward children, as part of a Positive Behaviour Policy. This means staff are now catching children being good, and telling them, e.g. I love the way you re listening!. Simon said that he feels sometimes teachers pick favourites and deal with issues for some children but may not deal with the same issues for others. He gave the example of Pupils Football Day and said that some pupils were banned for doing something, others were not. Mr Leeming said that if children feel they are unfairly treated at lunchtime, they can go to the teacher who is on duty in Reflection and tell them, explaining why they feel this. Children must tell an adult if they are unhappy about something. Layan said that, last Friday, in the playground, someone was being silly with a football and everyone was banned from playing football in January, just because of that one person. Mr Charman said that he was a teacher for a long time and grown-ups need reminding about the well behaved children who get less attention because
they are well behaved, they are sometimes referred to as the invisible children. He said that he understood the issue well as he was one of five children and always the best behaved, but not praised for it. He asked the children to keep reminding the adults about this issue so they become more aware. 5. Q3. Is everyone happy? - Tianna Simon said, Sometimes yes, sometimes no. Some children can have problems and not deal with them. He stated that he knows he should talk to Mr Leeming about any problems but some people keep problems to themselves. Tianna said her teacher has a box and children in her class can write down their feelings and put them in the box. No one sees them. Simon said problems happen more often outside, in the playground. Mr Leeming said that if there was a problem outside, Simon could still tell Mr Finch when he came inside. Tianna stated that her teacher told her class to tell the teacher on duty. She said that her teacher said, regarding a problem occurring outside, I have been directed not to deal with it. Mr Leeming said that the teacher was under the wrong impression and he would talk to the teachers about this. Action: Mr Leeming to talk to teachers about dealing with problems that occur outside the classroom. Mr Leeming Prisha said that Ms Abdalle sometimes asks children if they did anything about a problem and if they say no, she directs them back. Mr Leeming stated that sometimes children do not know that something has been done about a problem, but it has. He said that children should tell adults if they have a problem. Ms Campbell said that two children had come to her with a problem today and it had been sorted out. Layan said that she is not usually happy in the playground. One of her friends was bullied by Year 6 girls. Sometimes Layan is upset by a boy who makes rude comments, but sometimes others are nice and this cheers her up. WL said the boy s teacher was told about the issue Layan had. Rhian said that sometimes other classes, especially 4B, take the football when it Rhian s class s Football Day, but don t let her class play with it when it is their day. This happens in break time.
Mr Leeming said that, if this happens, children should go to the adult on duty. The adult on duty decides whether or not children can play with a ball at break time. Abeer said that sometimes other classes say that they had let his class play on a different day and therefore his class should let their class play on his class s day. Mr Leeming stated that there should be no sharing of the football between classes/days. Simon suggested that children could go into a separate playground on their Football Day. Mr Leeming said this was a good idea, but there were only enough adults to cover one playground at a time. 6. Q4. Is Breakfast Club OK? - Tianna Emily stated that there could be better food. She said sometimes there is just toast and a cup of water on offer. Ms Campbell said she has seen that the choice can be toast or cereal. Tianna said there used to be toast or cereal offered on alternate days, now there is a choice of both. She stated that the toast is made in advance and can be cold and way too buttery. She asked about this, but there is still too much butter. Layan stated that her friend goes to Breakfast Club and said sometimes the food can be nice, but can be cold and Nursery children would not eat it. Simon said that there are more options needed. He said that there were crumpets, which were nice, but this happened only once or twice. Simon said there should be more options in the tuck shop and suggested Nutella. Tianna reminded Simon that Melcombe is a nut-free school. Ms Campbell stated that fruit is on offer in Breakfast Club, but this is not taken up. Children have not eaten the grapefruit, for example, and then it is wasted and so not bought again. Klajdi said his friend goes to Breakfast Club and he says sometimes there is hair in the food. Mr Leeming said, if a hair is found in food, this should be reported to Ms Thomas.
Layan stated that she has reported this to Ms Thomas when it has happened. WL said that sometimes, when hair has been reported, when examined, it has not actually been hair. The kitchen staff wear hair nets and have guidelines from the government about preparing the food. Inspectors also visit the kitchen to make sure rules are followed and the food is healthy. Mr Charman said that, if there really is a hair in the food, then a lot of people get to know about it. Don t repeat the story to people. Mr Charman said that it is incredibly important that there are no nuts in the building. He used to keep nuts sealed in a sealed jar in a cupboard for a science experiment in a school he taught in and they caused a person to be ill. Mr Leeming said that the authorities have told the school that nuts are not to be allowed. 7. Q5. How are the after school clubs? - Tianna Simon said some are good and the teachers see how everyone improves every week, some are not so good. Emily said the discipline is good in Martial Arts Club and children learn how to defend themselves, but they can use their skills in the playground. Layan said she does Street Dance as her house is far from the school. The clubs offer her opportunities to do new things. She said she never knew how to dance and now she knows how to. Klajdi said he does Martial Arts and it is good for children to know how to defend themselves from danger. Rhian said the clubs are good, but if you are recognised to be really good, you should be able to do a higher level. Tianna said she agreed with this. Simon said that some children have been messing about continuously in some clubs. Children waste time, making clubs late. He suggested children should go straight to their clubs from classes. Mr Leeming said that if time is being wasted in the hall, the adults should sort it out. Ms Gilbert and Ms Wight have a policy which has already been put in force and some children have already been banned from clubs. Simon said that some children miss clubs; one child had missed clubs for eight weeks, whilst at the same time other children had wanted to do the club really badly. Mr Leeming asked Simon to speak to Ms Gilbert about this. Simon
Action: Simon to speak to Ms Gilbert about children who miss clubs as this prevents others taking a place. Tianna asked what footballs are allowed. Mr Leeming said no leather balls are allowed because there have been serious injuries caused by them. A number of attendees gave examples of when they or their friends had been hurt by leather balls. Ms Campbell said that heading leather balls can be very dangerous because leather balls are very heavy. Tianna said that the children who play with plastic balls say they fly away. Ms Campbell said they should control the balls better. Simon said that if a leather ball is brought into school, the child should be banned from football for a week. 6A was allowed to play with a leather ball and no action was taken by the teacher. There can also be injuries caused by standing on foam balls and you can t play normal football with them. 8. Q6. Feedback and Updates Mr Leeming Surveys: Mr Leeming reported that returns from the Pupil Survey show nearly all areas increasing positively. The school used to get lots of returns from children reporting that other children were naughty. There was a misunderstanding that brought this about and now the figure for this has improved. Staff and parents also complete surveys. The responses have been very positive. Eco Warriors: Mr Leeming reported that the Eco Warriors are going to be working on a new project related to Air Pollution. Melcombe Primary School is situated on one of the most polluted roads in London. The Mayor has introduced a project which has led to Ms Cox, Ms Beanland, Ms Frost and Mr Leeming meeting with consultants to see what could be done about air pollution at the school. There have been some good ideas. The consultants said that the biggest polluter outside is the buses; which cause 40% of the pollution. The school should write to London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham about getting low emission buses. Also, the school has been offered some funding to build a living wall, like the one at Westfield Shopping Centre. Quotes will be coming in to Ms Cox. Eco Warriors will be doing homework about air pollution over Christmas. Mr Leeming apologised for not asking Junior Road Safety Officers to come to the meeting with the consultants. This would have happened if Mr Leeming had known the range of subjects discussed at the meeting, however, the consultants reported on the number of parents bringing children to school by car when they live very close to the school and the JRSOs will be involved
in work to bring this number down. Simon said that some children do live far from the school and have to come by car, such as those living in Wandsworth. Mr Leeming said he understood this. For a long time, the school s catchment area was very great, including White City. Simon said that children are late for school because of the local traffic. Fulham Palace Road is classed as a motorway and gets blocked. Mr Leeming said staff are also affected by the traffic, but come in earlier to try and avoid it. Mr Leeming said the consultants had spoken about the possibility of changing Colwith Road to a school street, so that, for example, during school times, cars could not be used there and there would be cameras, with fines for those breaking the rules. Mr Charman commented that he was very impressed with how Tianna had chaired the meeting. He said he had known Melcombe for twenty years, but had not had many chances to hear the children put over their opinions and this had been very impressive. Mr Charman said that the living wall would mean that plants would help clean the pollution. He said that it would be helpful if the pupils could write to the governors and Mr Charman will take their work to the council. Mr Charman asked the members of the School Council to find out about the dangers of air pollution and write them all down and for the student voice to be brought to the Governors 4pm meeting. Children to be invited to the meeting for the first 10-15 mins. Action: Members of the School Council to find out about the dangers of air pollution and write them all down. Also, student voice to be brought to the Governors 4pm Curriculum Committee Meeting. Members of the School Council.l 9. Close of Meeting -Tianna Tianna thanked everyone for attending the meeting and for their views. Bailey will chair the next School Council Meeting.