P4 Pupil Voice Leadership

PHASE 4 - PUPIL LEADERSHIP AND FAMILY ENGAGEMENT

Pupil Voice and Leadership

"Using books is helpful because it allows us to make our own decisions about situations, rather than having our teacher tell us all the time"


Year 6 pupil – Swansea


Pupil Voice and Leadership


The programme should have a strong pupil-led focus, encouraging children to see themselves as active participants. Participation in decision-making enables children to learn and apply the skills needed to be active citizens in the wider community.

This lays the foundation for deepening social action (see Section 5). As pupils become active participants - and then shapers and leaders - of an empathy movement in school, they can act as advocates and activists in their families and beyond. They can become change-makers in their own communities.


Using pupil voice


Your school likely already has mechanisms for making pupils’ voice heard (e.g. School Council, School Parliament).

Use these to inform your plans for your school’s empathy work.

Empathy Conversations - which are part of the programme’s evaluation framework (see Section 6) – are a structured process in which teachers ask questions within a dialogic framework to gather pupils’ views on their empathy journey.

They can be a useful tool to amplify pupil voice when planning your school’s empathy work.


Case Study: Pentrahafod Year 11 Advisory Group


Pentrehafod School, Swansea, asked a group of Year 11 students to help guide their empathy work. The advisory group provided practical consultancy on the programme’s look and feel in a secondary school.

  • They looked at the Empathy Explorer designs and chose to rename the programme ‘Empathy Activists’.


  • They suggested changing the name of a key programme element: Empathy Awards. At secondary level, these awards have been renamed The Empathys, to be more like the Oscars - glamorously celebratory.


  • They felt the student parliament should focus on changes that could build a more caring and empathetic community.


  • Pickingup on EmpathyLab’s emphasis on exploring feelings and understanding others through book characters, they recommended that more literature be introduced lower down the school, as this would improve vocabulary for emotions and empathetic writing. This led to practical suggestions for resources that EmpathyLab developed to help explore characters and their feelings in greater depth (mind maps, Top Trumps-style cards, etc.). Literature was also integrated into humanities and expressive arts to develop cultural capital and serve as a stimulus for creativity.


 Letting Pupils Take the Lead


Some of the Empathy Explorer and Activist toolkits provide particularly good opportunities for pupils to be in the lead.


Empathy Bookspotters

 

This is an excellent way for pupils to take ownership of their empathy learning,

become empathy reading role models and take a lead in finding and recommending empathy boosting texts.

Review ideas on this from Section 3 and begin to think about ways this could be extended to families

and the wider community too.

For example, producing a empathy reads newsletter, working with the local library,

starting a community empathy book exchange.


Empathy Awards/ The Empathys


Pupils draw on their reading experiences to consider the most empathetic characters

or characters who have shown empathy. The resources in the Kitbag support promoting the activity,

nominating and voting for the character and celebrating the winners.

This is an excellent opportunity to involve parents and the wider community,

whether as part of the voting or the celebrations.


Displays and whole-school messaging


You could also hand over responsibility for displays and whole school empathy branding to pupils.

Creating an Empathy Wall of Fame to celebrate staff and students showing empathy, quotes from famous celebrities

and role models who have shown empathetic concern can make the journey tangible.

Pupils can share their ideas of what an empathetic school looks like and share poetry or character quotes,

visible to all within the school. (pics to be added)


Other ways you could develop pupil leadership


Identify opportunities wherever possible for pupils to be taking the lead.

Some of these will grow organically from the work you do so be ready to respond.


  • Empathy Leaders/Ambassadors scheme. Pupils are chosen or elected as good empathy role models and may have specific roles within the school, depending on what’s relevant to the school. For example, offering support on the playground, or championing and promoting empathy work in the school.


  • Setting up an empathy council. (or making it a specific part of the existing school council’s work). Pupils in school councils, using pupil voice from across the school, can take a lead in planning empathy work in both the school and the wider community.

 

  • Setting up a working party. Pupils can work as part of a working party (cross phase or school if relevant) to address a specific issue that’s been identified. 


Case Study: Empathy Leaders at Beck and Kenilworth Primary Schools


"After some playground incidents where pupils were complaining of having no one to play with,

teachers at Beck Primary decided to build on children's enthusiasm for their empathy learning

to create and Empathy Leaders Scheme.

Key Stage 2 classes wrote "do's" and "don'ts" for the role and nominated a class member who they thought met those requirements.

Leaders were trained to provide playtime support for the peers, showing real sensitivity and maturity.

They instigated Empathy Stops where children can go if they feel sad, lonely or simply need a friend.

In the second year, previous leaders trained the new ones"


Amy Willoughby, Assistant Head, Beck Primary School

“The children’s enthusiasm for Empathy Explorers has led to the creation of new ‘Empathy Leaders’

roles (an idea adapted from Beck Primary School). In the playground they are available if children

need somebody to talk to. Children applied for these roles and were interviewed by myself and a governor. They wear their Empathy Leader jackets with pride and are highly visible on the playground. They are not there to solve problems, but are available to show empathy and support.”


Claire Williams, Deputy Head, Kenilworth Primary School

Case Study:

Empathy Leaders at Beck and Kenilworth Primary Schools


The Pentrehafod cluster, Swansea (one secondary and seven primary schools) created a new structure for pupil-led work, looking at how an empathy focus could help their peers feel safer about the transition from KS2 to KS3 – something that had been identified by pupils as an issue. Year 6 representatives from each primary student council met with the secondary-school parliament (Years 7, 8 and 10) on a monthly basis from November to March. 


Pupils shared what they had done as a result of the empathy assemblies, what was changing in their school and what was needed to create a more empathetic transition. To explore feelings about transition more deeply, they opted to use Steven Camden’s poem First Day, reading it in a meeting and discussing their reactions. The secondary students shared memories of their first day. Follow-up work to be carried out in each school was planned in order to help pupils feel more positive about transition. 


The group decided to build an ‘Empathy Transition Charter’. This would be used by staff and pupils in each school to guide their approach to ensuring every child experienced an empathetic transition. The charter was produced and launched on Empathy Day, a month before pupils finished in Year 6. 


TOP TIPS:


  • Ask ‘what is important to us as individuals, a school and a wider community and how can we effect change?’


  • Use existing pupil voice structures to inform and develop your empathy work


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