Pupil Voice at Dunvant

Pupil Voice Group News

In 2019- 2020, we have adopted a 'Senydd' approach to pupil voice as part of our' Feel Good Friday' initiative. Every 3 weeks, all pupils from Key stage 2 (and Year 2 after Christmas) attend a pupil voice group. The following Tuesday, the year 6 representatives from each group feedback to Miss Thomas about what has been discussed, then hold an assembly to share their group's work with the school. 

Pupil Voice 2021- 2022

Pupil voice continues to be very evident in planning.

Pupil voice is evident in the SDP 2021-22 with their contributions highlighted in blue

We hope to continue the ‘Feel Good Friday’ Initiative in phases. This is organised on a three-week rolling programme. In key stage 2, this involves- enrichment, class time for wellbeing initiatives and pupil voice groups. In Foundation Phase, it involves enrichment and well-being.

Pupil voice is built into the self-evaluation timetable.

As per the SDP, the pupil voice groups have been allocated to the porpoise pods as champions of their particular area of responsibility. Each pod has badges!

In key stage 2, Children decided what pods they would like to be part of and each pod now has a real life responsibility for improving an area of school life. These are:

Rhys pod- improving the school website

Osian pod- coming up with a charter for safe and sensible use of the grounds

Cerys pod- supporting the re writing of the behaviour policy

Seren- supporting the development of the medium term plans for the Duke of Dunvant theme in the Summer. 

In Foundation Phase, we will be continuing to develop the language of the porpoises as per SDP. Each class will have weekly champions:

• Cerys Champion to make sure no one is left out
• Rhys Champion to help people who are stuck or struggling
• Osian Champion ensures we recycle, turn lights of etc
• Seren Champion helps people to contribute to class discussions

The Porpoise pods in Sea Turtle class have produced a short video to explain what the each pod will be doing.

Pod Update- Summer Term Year 3-4

Over the spring term pupils undertook introductory lessons to working on pods on Friday afternoons. Pupils in each pod worked together on specific set tasks. For example our Cerys pod completed a Welsh audit of their own classroom and our Rhys pod completed a review of the school website, etc. Each pod had set tasks that they worked together to complete and provide feedback to the other pods.

Moving forward, now that we are able to mix within our phases, we are looking to group all of the pupils into their pods to complete tasks in larger groups on Friday afternoons. For example, all of Cerys pod from the 3 classes will work with Mr Rees in his room on set tasks before feeding back to their individual class.

Each task will be related to skills and attributed of their porpoise.

Pupils are very enthused by the porpoises and understand the skills associated with each one. Their terminology and ability to relate their understanding to individual lessons is good.

Year 5-6 Update Summer 2022

During the Autumn Term 2021 the children in Y5/6 were put into Porpoise Pods and revised the behaviours and actions each Porpoise displays. When the COVID restrictions were relaxed in the Spring Term 2022 the Pods were then able to mix within bubbles. At this time, they each pod was given a real and authentic challenge by Mrs Thomas.

Rhys Pod To develop the school website.

Osian Pod To create an outdoor learning code.

Carwyn Pod To get the school ready for Bronze Siarter Iaith.

Cerys Pod To revise the school behaviour policy.

Seren Pod To help create the Duke of Dunvant SOW for Summer Term 2022.

Each of the pods held meetings during our Feel Good Friday sessions and planned out how we would approach each of these challenges. The pods then delivered whole school assemblies over TEAMS to share what was being done and to collect information from all the other pupils in the school.Armed with an understanding of the types of characteristics each porpoise has, the plan for the Summer Term 2022 is to use our plans and feedback to solve these challenges. This process has increased the understanding of the 4 purposes of the curriculum and enthused our learners by providing them genuine challenges that allow then to apply their skills in a real life context