Pupil Advisory Groups: A step towards empowerment and collaboration

Article 12 of The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child states that ‘Children have the right to give their opinions freely on issues that affect them. Adults should listen and take children seriously.’

Schools Linking was initially developed alongside children and young people and we’re delighted that our recent funding from the National Lottery UK Fund has given us new opportunities to explore and expand ‘Pupil Advisory Groups’ to better inform and shape our work. Our aim is that children and young people will bring their expertise to Schools Linking and give students a stronger sense of ownership over the programme.

Work has started across our national network to establish Pupil Advisory Groups. Here in Bradford, we have been working with pupils from four different primary schools. We have asked pupils to consider how it feels to meet with your link class for the first time and how we can make sure that experience is as positive as it can be.

It was clear that the first meeting brought about a mixture of emotions for children. Kasim said, ‘I felt nervous and anxious but later I made a friend’ and for Jacob, ‘I felt excited but I didn’t know what was going to happen.’

It was particularly helpful to hear how valuable children had found exchanging messages and pieces of work prior to meeting and they especially liked the video calls which helped them start to get to know their link class.

We’ve also been gathering children’s thoughts on how Schools Linking could be even better, including a video tour of each other’s schools before class visits and having more video calls.

Already, children’s views are informing our Schools Linking teacher training next term and giving us lots of food for thought!