Being a responsible member of the school community

At Chaucer Junior School, we recognise the value in giving our children the opportunity to contribute proactively to the whole school community - this increases their feeling of belonging and responsibility.

This is done in two ways. Firstly, children are given the opportunity to volunteer for and be selected to help with school events which have been organised during and outside of school hours, such a charity fundraising events and open evenings. Secondly, we have a series of long-term opportunities for children throughout the school. Below is an example of some of these roles and what they entail:

School Parliament

School Parliament consists of a representative (known as a Class MP) who has been voted for by their peers from each class. These children meet with Miss Smith regularly to select, plan and deliver different projects. Generally, the process consists of the Class MPs collecting ideas from their classmates, Parliament creating a shortlist and the MPs returning this shortlist to their class so a final vote can be cast. From there, Parliament will complete everything that needs to be done to execute their plan and then the cycle begins again. They are also often invited as representatives to school events to meet visitors, prospective students and parents.

Ambassadors

At the beginning of every year, children apply to be ambassadors for different subjects. Subjects Leaders read all their application forms and, depending on the subject type, appoint a number of ambassadors - this might be one per year or one per class. Ambassadors then work closely with their subject leads to run the subject in question, helping out with specific tasks on a day-to-day basis or feeding back to their lead to help improve provision in the subject. For example, the English ambassadors help monitor Accelerated Reader and keep the library tidy.

The list of ambassadors is as follows: Maths, English, Science, Wellbeing, Art, Topic, Computing, French, PE & Music.

Prefects

At the beginning of the year, we run our prefect campaign. Children complete an application form and the headteacher shortlists 6 candidates. Over the following two weeks, each of the candidates addresses the whole school to explain why they should be selected as a prefect and to take part in a Q&A session. After this, every single child in the school is given the opportunity to vote for who they want to represent them as their prefects. Prefects attend school events, are involved in the decision making process for the school, complete visits on behalf of the school and sit in on Class Parliament meetings.

Assembly monitors

Assembly monitors prepare the hall for assembly on a daily basis and support the headteacher in organising Chaucer Champion assemblies on a Friday. They give up part of their breaktimes to do this and are expected to remember their responsibilities without being reminded. They are an integral part of the school's day-to-day running.

Office assistants

Office assistants are selected to support the Office Admin staff in the mornings by taking messages to teachers, delivering items dropped off at the office to the correct classrooms and helping other children as they arrive.

Morning monitors

Morning monitors arrive at school 10 minutes before the gate opens and help their teacher prepare the classroom for the day by putting out the chairs, handing out books and completing other tasks as directed. Children fulfilling this role learn to be punctual and independent as they have to sign themselves in and start their tasks with minimal direction.

Junior Leaders

Children are trained to facilitate games on the playground and they run these activities for the other children during lunchtime. This increases their independence and leadership skills and allows them to demonstrate how considerate and supportive they can be to each other.