Bearsden Academy Pupils Making a Difference
Pupil Leadership Committee
Learner Voice Committee
Bearsden Academy is a school that values its staff and young people. We pride ourselves in
developing the skills of staff and of young people and their capabilities as learners. Through
innovative approaches to learner voice, our young people are increasingly being empowered
to influence the future development and direction of the school. Bearsden Academy has
developed an innovative and progressive approach to learner voice as part of the school’s
strategic vision for young people to be fully participative in the learning and teaching process
and developing their leadership skills. This strategy has four main strands, involving
committees comprising of a pupil majority:
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The Pupil Leadership Committee promoting children’s rights and leadership.
The Learner Voice Committee creating resources and conducting surveys from
learners’ viewpoints.
The Pupil Councils contributing to the development of school policy
Classroom practice that involves learners in the development of courses and
programmes of work.
Our Pupil Leadership Committee has been the major force in the promotion of children’s
rights across the school, leading to our UNICEF Rights Respecting School award in June
2013. The pupils have led leadership focus weeks and presented at assemblies their
philosophy of Everyday Leadership based on Drew Dudley’s Ted Talk. The Pupil
Leadership Committee has devised a resource for other schools to use on their journey to
Rights Respecting School status and organised conferences featuring keynote speeches from
Drew Dudley and Tam Baillie Scotland’s Commissioner for Children and Young People.
To appreciate the issue of rights as global citizens, the pupil leadership committee has
embarked on a partnership with Ngumbe Secondary in Malawi. The whole school has been
involved in fund raising activities to upgrade the pupils’ dormitories, writing letters to
Ngumbe Secondary pupils, learning about Malawi and children’s rights abroad and preparing
to visit the school to help with improvement works in 2015.
The Pupil Leadership Committee’s Leadership Weeks have focussed on the ways that every
member of our school community can develop their leadership skills. Inspired by Drew
Dudley’s Ted Talk on Everyday Leadership, the committee produced a programme of events
each year to promote such opportunities. Last year the committee organised a live Skype Q
and A session with Drew in Canada and this year have organised for Drew to give a keynote
speech as part of his UK tour.
Bearsden Academy is hosting two leadership events this term. The School Parliament, which
consists of all our pupil councillors and captaincy team, has invited school leaders and pupil
councillors from our associated primaries to form Cluster Parliament sessions.
Both events are ideal for promoting rights based learning and for school communities on the
journey towards UNICEF Rights Respecting School status.
Our leadership events will focus on two aspects; leadership and rights.
On Friday 31st January we will host international leadership speaker Drew Dudley. Over 1
million people have now viewed Drew’s Ted Talk on Everyday Leadership across the world.
We are looking forward to Drew’s keynote speech on the nature of leadership for young
people. There will also be activities for our Cluster Parliament to discuss leadership with
Drew and others.
On Friday 28th February Scotland’s Commissioner for Children and Young People, Tam
Baillie, will be our keynote speaker at a session of the Cluster Parliament. Tam will be
discussing children’s rights. There will be opportunities for pupils to discuss their thoughts on
rights and responsibilities.
Our Learner Voice Committee has been at the forefront of innovative practice. The pupils
created their own survey of ‘What makes a Good Lesson’ and led the peer interviews. The
Learner Voice Committee then worked alongside the Learning and Teaching Committee to
produce a resource: ‘Thinking Steps to Asking Good Questions’. This resource supports
learners by providing a scaffold for next steps and was successfully piloted in October 2013.
The resource brings together Bloom’s Taxonomy and Harvard Thinking Routines and
therefore builds on existing practice.
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Harvard’s Making Thinking Visible through the use of Thinking Routines was
evaluated by Pupil focus groups and the Learner Voice Committee. Using film clips
young people recorded their views on the impact from these developments, which
were shared with staff at in-service days to support future planning to improve further
learning and teaching.
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The Learner Voice Committee are currently working on a resource to support parents
and carers in asking supportive questions.
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The Learner Voice Committee continue to support learning and teaching by providing
feedback for teachers and importantly devising new approaches to learning and
teaching.
Our Pupil Councils represent the student body of each year group and work with our S6
Captaincy Team in developing school policy. Recent consultations on our behaviour policy,
homework policy and the development of our School Charter have ensured pupils are at the
heart of decision-making. A sub-committee have formed our Canteen Committee and have
developed tasting days and contributed to the organisation of the canteen.
Classroom Practice in all departments across the school involves consultation with young
people on the content and delivery of courses. The use of ‘You Said, We Did’ posters
demonstrates the impact pupils have on teaching. Staff regularly conduct surveys and focus
groups and respond on an individual and class level to feedback.
Our vision is of a Responsible Learner school where pupils have the right to expect high
quality feedback on their work from teachers and where teachers expect learners to act on
their feedback to move learning forward in a virtuous circle.