It would be easy to report some of the developments in pupil participation in Allan's in a rather dramatic way but we would like to emphasise that we were not into risk-taking or seeking publicity - we simply wanted to prepare our pupils better for their lives in secondary school and adult life, and also to allow them to exercise, to a greater degree than we had allowed or thought possible before, their insights, abilities and capacity to adjust and make sound judgements.

Authority IT staff development

As part of our own ICT club, pupils had been involved in developing a school Website and some pupils had developed advanced skills in this. Given their experience of helping their own teachers in ICT it did not seem to us that we were over-stretching their abilities to offer an Authority In-service course at the staff development centre for school staff wanting to set up their own Websites. Pupils undertook the course very seriously, planning it with Authority staff and delivering it with composure. The course was very highly evaluated by the staff participating and the pupil-tutors themselves evaluated the experience from their own perspectives. They too were positive, but also constructively self-critical - as all good teachers must be!

Membership of the school Finance Committee

Our pupils have imagination and grand ideas! There is a very real risk in pupil participation that pupils may either be full of financially impossible ideas (helicopter landing pads, whole school trips to Disneyland or the Moon . . .) and feel disappointed and become disaffected when these have to be turned down. Our pupils and their Council had already responded so ably and responsibly to many challenges that it was thought that some participation in the Finance Committee would be especially developmental for them individually. Their understanding and know-how would in turn help the Council moderate ideas with greater insight into the financial implications. Accordingly, two Council members were elected to the Committee and were involved when the Committee allocated £2000 to the Pupils' Council to cover the costs of the school toilets renovation, an area given top priority for development by all pupils. This project probably deserves a Case Study of its own but, briefly, pupils designed the 'new look', selected the materials, oversaw its development and consulted with the relevant Authority personnel and contractors. And they kept to their budget!

We got to choose what gets put in the rooms (Paint, tiles)
P7 pupil

Helping select a new teacher

The Headteacher had reported to the Pupils' Council that a new Nursery Teacher was to be appointed and showed the Council a copy of the job specification that had been drawn up. The Council immediately expressed an interest in drawing up a pupils' specification for the new member of staff (picture below), to be sent out to applicants. The Chair and Secretary of the Council, thoroughly briefed on protocols and the need for confidentiality, were also involved on the interviews day in welcoming the candidates for the post, showing them round the school, and giving a confidential indication to the chair of the selection committee of how far they felt that each candidate matched the pupils' specification. We were not surprised that the views of the Pupils' Council representatives and the views of the selection committee coincided. After all, isn't their specification how we would all like to see ourselves and our colleagues as teachers?

We don't think we have over-reached ourselves but, to be sure, we need to evaluate our systems of pupil participation continuously and to put thought and energy into consolidating them as well as expanding them.

What about the wee ones?

Our P1 and P2 pupils are not represented in the Pupils' Council. We still believe that, although they certainly have views well worth expressing, they are not mature enough to participate in the same way that the older children do. They need a lot of support in their classes to become confident and socially competent even within that smaller context. However, we did think we could do more to 'scaffold' their social learning so that they were more ready to become full participants as they matured. We try very hard, for instance, to make sure that things that we discuss at school assembly or that are on our notice boards can be understood by the youngest children. This may be done simply by reading to them or telling them things that they cannot read for themselves. Sometimes it may involve simplifying or illustrating things that are harder to understand. Our P7 pupils each undertook as part of their homework to interpret one or two of the Articles of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (Picture G).

We also introduced a Buddy Scheme of P7 volunteer pupils to help P1 pupils and any other new entrants to the school settle in (Picture H). The emphasis is on developing the younger or newer pupils' confidence and independence, not on 'babying' them, and the P7 pupils receive training in this.

Is participation sufficiently widespread?

We believe it is now, but this was achieved by developing sufficient sub-groups of the Pupils' Council and by introducing a vertically grouped 'House' system that allows for more taking of responsibility across the school and beyond those who do not hesitate to be pioneer leaders or who show pronounced talents and social abilities. The Pupils' Council alone is not enough. We think the benefits of pupil participation in school systems are far too great to be restricted to a small group.

We would also like to extend our pupil participation to matters such as helping teachers select new learning schemes through trialling them and discussing them. We think the subsequent 'ownership' of the selected schemes by pupils would help their learning.

Keeping Thinking

When we reflected on why pupil participation seems to have been an important factor in our pupils' development and indeed in the school's development, we think there are some important factors that have helped our staff and pupils:

• Staff were convinced by the underlying educational and moral principles of pupil participation and this belief allows them to sustain the necessary support for pupil participation.
• Pupils responded, some more eagerly than others, but progessively more joined in.
• Parents increasingly 'came on board' when they saw the evidence of more confident and competent pupils.
• We try to see ideas and projects through, even when the going is bumpy or energy is running lower.

This applies to pupils and staff.

And sometimes we have to go back and look at earlier developments. An example of this is in our review of Parents' Afternoons and Evenings where we have, for several years, invited parents and children to come together. We think it is illogical to encourage children to become involved in and responsible for managing their own learning and behaviour in class, yet discuss both aspects of our pupils with parents in the children's absence. Most parents agree with us but we need to convince others that there will be real gains in understanding, learning and respect, for all concerned. Our hope is that in the next session all such meetings will include teachers, parents and all children!