Over the years pupil voice at Holy Redeemer has grown and grown and is now a well established strength of the school. We have 9 leadership groups, who all take an active role in the running of the school within their area of interest:
Our School Council is made up of elected members from Year 1-Year 6. The children need regularly and are supported in their work by Miss Taylor. They talk to their classmates about how we can make the school better and decide on how their work can also make a difference in our local community and in the wider world. One of the ways in which they make a difference is through their sponsoring of a child’s education in a primary school outside Worcester, South Africa. They are also raising money to buy books for Gericke School’s library.
They previously sponsored the upkeep of an orphaned baby elephant, Mee Chok, who lived at the Blessings Elephant Rescue Retreat, in Thailand.
Their main source of income generation is selling toast to the rest of the school on Tuesday at break time. They also organise non school uniform days, for other chosen charities and have their own stalls at the Christmas and Summer Fayres, organise cake sales and sell pancakes on Shrove Tuesday. Their most recent non school uniform day was for ‘Hello Yellow’, Young Minds’ mental health day. Everyone came to school dressed in yellow and we spent the day thinking about how we can help ourselves and each other, when we are finding life hard. The children wrote their ideas down on yellow post-it notes and the School Council have made a Hello Yellow tree and hung all our ideas on it.
If the School Council see an issue that they feel needs to be addressed, they work with pupils, staff, governors and the wider community to see if they can help. One of the most recent things the School Council were worried about was the speed of traffic outside the school and the way cars were being parked. Previous School Councils worked with our local councillor, Liz Tucker, and our community Police, to organise several ‘walk to school’ days, did surveys of vehicle usage on Priest Lane and managed to get the Council to assess the level of traffic and it’s speed. They also worked with road safety charity, Brake, to help teach the children how to cross the road safely.
The Values Council is again made up of elected members from across the school (Yrs1-6). They work closely with Mrs Williams to spread the Jesuit School Values across the school. They set an example to others, teach about the values by planning and leading whole school assemblies and retreat days, and support the school community in living out these values in our everyday lives, through prayer, giving to charity and having care for all God’s creation. One of their key roles in school is our Harvest, Advent and Lenten fundraising, where they typically collect food for Pershore Food Bank, and organise fundraising activities for Cafod, Father Hudson’s Homes, Maggs Day Centre, and the Kenelm Youth Trust.
The Sports Council is made up of elected members from Year 1 -Year 6. They work closely with Mrs Annis and Mrs Porter, to help develop and maintain the excellent PE and sport that we have at Holy Redeemer. Their main role is one of leadership and providing good role models. They plan and run school competitions for the rest of the school, organise and help to run Sports Day, and provide additional exercise activities at play time. They also lead fundraising activities each year in the form of a sponsored run (to raise money for school PE equipment) and a school Reindeer/Santa run, for St. Richard’s Hospice. Each year the older members of the council undertake training with our local area sports co-ordinator.
Our Change 4 Life Team focus on how we can all be healthier and fitter. They work with Mrs Annis to find out about healthy eating and new exercise opportunities and share these with the rest of the school by leading assemblies. Each year they plan and lead a community Winter Walk, that takes place on a Saturday and they work with British Cycling, to facilitate opportunities for children to learn to ride a bike.
Our Eco Council is made up of elected members from Year 1-Year 6. The Green Team are a group of children who are passionate about taking action on eco matters and who volunteer to give up their time to help with all things eco. Both groups work with Mrs Barker to make sure that the school is as eco friendly as possible. They lead carry out environmental reviews, write action plans, lead assemblies (to teach us about how we can take care of the planet), make sure that we recycle as much as possible, collect all compostable materials and look after our compost heap, help look after the eco garden, monitor and widen plant and animal diversity in the school grounds, make information posters and signs to remind us to turn off lights and not waster water or energy, litter pick and monitor our energy usage, They have done such a fantastic job over the years, gaining Eco Schools England Green Flag Status. They are currently working towards reapplying for our Green Flag, which lapsed during Covid.
The Gardening Team is made up of keen volunteers, who support the Eco Council by litter picking and looking after our eco garden. They work alongside Mrs Sanders and our parishioner volunteers, Bob and Val, to grow a huge variety of fruits, vegetables, trees and flowers. They seed, plant, weed, water and harvest and generally work hard all year round. Thank you Gardening Team!
The Arts Council is made up of children who have been nominated by staff. They are children with a particular interest, or talent, in some aspect of the arts. Together with staff responsible for teaching and supporting the arts in school (Mr Lister, Mrs Hazelton, Mrs Breawell, Mrs Annis, and all the class teachers, this group makes sure that the arts are given a high profile at Holy Redeemer and that achievement in music, art, dance and drama, is of high standard. They plan activities and support the rest of the school in putting on exhibitions and showcases, to which other classes, parents and the wider community are invited, as well as taking our arts out into the community in the form of performances at local events, and venues, and in exhibiting at No8 theatre and gallery. We have external validation in the form of our Silver Artsmark Award.!
