Election fever is in the Primary section! On Wednesday’s Grades 1-5 assembly and Friday’s Early Years assembly, students learned about what a council is. We looked at how the UN is a forum for international discussion and debate, the Bundestag for German issues and then turned to our home here at the FIS to think about what a council would look like here. Every class from Early Years 3 to Grade 5 will elect a representative next week. Students have begun thinking of two things:
- What qualities and skills will their representative need to do the job?
- Whether they would like to be a candidate?
For number 1, the IPC personal learning goals (collaborator, communicator, thinker, resilient, empathetic, respectful, adaptable and ethical) guided their answers as they learned the representative will need to listen to their class and be able to represent them at the student council and do the opposite from student council back to the class!
For number 2, they have until Monday morning to decide, by which time they must tell their homeroom teacher. From Monday until Thursday they can campaign their hearts out with speeches, posters, jingles or in other creative ways. Thursday will be election day and on Friday results will be announced in an election special assembly.
At the time of writing (Thursday afternoon) I have just returned from playground duty and the election fever is already buzzing. Students were coming and sharing what qualities they have that they think make them suitable, for example, a Grade 4 student shared “I don’t get in trouble and I think that means I will be able to be responsible and get this right.”
The student council will bring much appreciated student voice to the other decision making bodies in the school. The Primary Assistant Heads, Darryn and Clare, and myself are really looking forward to this aspect; however it is also teaching the value and responsibilities of democracy and representation that help our students learn how to make a positive impact in the world, starting right here.
Dan Slevin
Head of Primary School
