The term 'Pupil Voice' refers to ways of listening to the views of pupils and/or involving them in decision making on issues that affect them.

At Holy Family, we believe that pupils benefit hugely from active participation within the school community. We teach them that their views are important and empower them to influence and inform decisions that affect their lives in school.

Some of the benefits of involving pupils in decision making are:

It encourages pupils to become active participants in a democratic society - developing skills such as co-operation and communication and encouraging them to take responsibility for their learning and the school in general.

It contributes to achievement and attainment - pupils involved in participative work benefit from increased confidence, self-respect, motivation and engagement with their learning.

We have lots of ways that the children can do this formally, such as through the school council, RE leader input and pupil questionnaires. However, we also foster an ethos that gives pupils the confidence to regularly share their opinions in an informal way - they know that every adult in school is always available to listen to their views.

Pupil Voice - March 2023

We are delighted with the overwhelmingly positive results generated in our most recent survey:

98% of pupils said that they enjoy their learning at Holy Family

99% of pupils said that they learnt a lot in lessons

96% of pupils said that the school encourages them to look after their physical health

Safeguarding is our priority at Holy Family, and as such we are heartened to see that 98% of our pupils said that they feel safe at school and that they have an adult to talk to should they have any worries.

98% of pupils also said that Holy Family encourages them to respect people from other backgrounds and to treat everyone equally.

The vast majority of pupils believe that behaviour is good in school and that any problems which may arise are quickly dealt with.

Pupil Voice - School Dinners

We were delighted to received feedback below from Mrs Esterhuyzen following a School Council / Pupil Voice session last week. Pupils were keen to influence the meal choices in school and had the opportunity for a question and answer session:

• 7 out of 9 pupils have school dinners regularly of which 4 liked it always and 3 liked it some of the times. The reasons for some of the children not having it more regularly were: they do not always like the menu of the day and they prefer packed lunches. We are happy that the majority of the children enjoy school dinners the majority of the time. We would like this number to increase even further and trust that following up om some of the children’ suggestions will aid in that.
• The top answers when asked what their favourite school dinners meals: Roast, Fish and Chips, Quorn Dippers, Jacket Potatoes, Mac n Cheese and Ice Cream. We will ensure the children’s favourites feature again on the new spring/summer menu.
• The top answers when asked what the children’ least favourite school dinner meals: Tomato Pasta, Chicken Pie, Mac N Cheese. I will ask our area team to discuss this with Amy and to ensure that the recipes are followed correctly and are of the quality we would expect.
• The top answers when asked what their favourite global cuisines are: American, Italian, Mexican and Afro Caribbean. We are happy to provide bespoke theme days to reflect the children’s favourites. e.g. a Taco Tuesday for Mexican Day or a Afro Caribbean Theme Day for Black History Month. Please feel free to contact me directly with any requests.
• When asked for suggestions on how we can improve school dinners the following points were raised:

1. More seasoning/spicier. We will speak to the kitchen regarding adding more seasoning to food in general and to perhaps make curry’s or Mexican dishes slightly spicier.
2. More cutlery needed as pupils have to wait while staff has to wash up cutlery mid-service. I have asked my colleagues, to arrange for more cutlery to be delivered.
3. Bigger variety of jacket potato toppings with tuna and sweetcorn mayo, salmon mayo and chicken mayo being some of the suggestions. I will ask the area team to discuss with Amy and implement.
4. Bigger variety of vegetables requested. We will keep this in mind for the new spring/summer menu.
5. Bigger portions requested. I have checked the portion sizes during my visit on Monday and they were within government guidelines. However I have mentioned this to the kitchen staff and will also ask the area team to monitor portion sizes to ensure they are correct.

All in all a very good meeting with some very sensible comments/suggestions from the pupils, many of which we can action. Thank you again for the opportunity and I look forward to visiting again in July

Pupil Voice - Curriculum May 2022

Our pupil voice meetings took place again today and as you can see both the pupils and the teachers found this a truly rewarding experience.  Each subject lead met with a group of pupils, on rotation, to discuss the school curriculum and gain their opinions about their learning.

Headlines – Pupil Voice ‘Reading’ - Year 6 to Year 2 pupils

Reading is a main focus for Holy Family this year and the survey was conducted to support us in a continuous cycle of review and improvement. The results of the survey are incredibly positive and have enabled us to identify some clear areas of development to further improve reading for our children.

Overall, the vast majority of pupils say that they like reading. Many of our children would like to read more if they had more time. Additional factors they have identified that would encourage them to read more are: if the books were more interesting, books had more pictures, and if families encouraged them to read more. The vast majority of children enjoy reading lessons at school and say that they know how to improve at reading. It is gratifying that our children understand how fundamental and enriching reading is to our daily lives, both now and in the future. Whilst 59% of them read because it’s fun, 52% believe it helps them learn new things, and 47% believe it to be a skill for life. Finally, 76% of our children think reading is cool!