Student Council
MBNS Student Council Policy
Democracy and democratic values are promoted at St. Mary’s Boys’ National School. A key part of a democratic school community is its Student Council. Student voices are valued in our school and the active and positive engagement of pupils in decision making is promoted.
A Student Council is a representative structure for students, through which they can become involved in the day-to-day affairs of the school. All students have a valuable contribution to make and the Student Council represents the voices of their peers at each class level. They work in partnership with school management, staff and parents for the benefit of the whole school community.
Purpose: to build a generation of caring leaders who collaborate to make our world a better place, by starting within our school community.
People: A team of two pupils per class level are elected annually from Junior Infants to 6th Class. Junior Council is open to students from Junior Infants to 2nd class. Senior Council is open to students from 3rd to 6th class.
Role: The main role of a Student Council as set out in the Education Act (1998) is “to promote the interests of the school and the involvement of students in the affairs of the school, in co-operation with the board, parents and teachers”.
Objectives: A Student Council will set its own objectives. Some general objectives include:
- To enhance communication between students and other stakeholders in the school community.
- To promote an environment conducive to educational and personal development.
- To promote friendship and the values of kindness, honesty, respect and responsibility among pupils.
- To support the management and staff in the development of the school.
- To represent the views of the students on matters of general concern to them.
Meetings: Meetings will be held termly for the Junior Council and monthly for the Senior Council. These meetings in the school and will be student-run, facilitated and supported by Ms. Kelly and Ms Toolan.
Communication: The Student Council will communicate their projects through the school website and school Twitter page. Student Council items will be brought to the Parent Teacher Association and school management by Ms. Kelly.
Elections: Each class nominates a candidate for election. Candidates complete an application form to be placed on the Ballot paper. A Ballot Box voting system is used at class level (secret ballot). Notification of newly elected Student Council members is sent to the school community via the school newsletter.
Saint Vincent De Paul Food Appeal
Each December we hold our annual Food Appeal in aid of Saint Vincent De Paul. We hold assemblies and gather the food from each class into our P.E. Hall. We then sort the food into categories before packing them into boxes for collection. Many thanks to all the boys who volunteer to help with the packing of all of the food.
We wish to thank all of the boys and their parents for the generous donations. Donations go a long way towards making Christmas special for those in our community who are in need of a little extra help at Christmas.
We hope that by participating in the Food Appeal that the boys always remember to help those most in need, especially at Christmas time. Well done boys!