Award-winning charity

Building every
child's voice.

A smarter kind of school council, where every child gets to speak up, lead and make change.

Take the tour Try free.
Pupils and their teacher, smiling together Every child heard No extra workload Run by pupils Ideas become action
Loved by
Keys Group Blackpool Council
What we do

A better type of school council, run by pupils, hearing every child. An all-in-one programme with the tools, training and community to run it.

Back to school

Coming up, live

Live sessions all term. Grab a seat and we will send you the link.

First week back
Tue to Fri
1–4
September

Welcome to Smart School Councils 26/27

Greg Sanderson
with Greg
Founder
Live welcome · 20 minutes · free
Tuesday
8
September · 3:30pm

Smart School Council Masterclass

Karen O'Connor
with Karen
Membership team
Membership included
Book a place
Thursday
17
September · 3:45pm

How to Run Your First Class Meeting

Karen O'Connor
with Karen
Membership team
Free webinar · online
22

events this year, through to June

See the whole calendar →
Built around you

Whatever your role, getting young people heard

Hear it from them

Real teachers, in their own words

All through school council

"They designed a railway and won first place, all through school council."

Hannah Jarman · SEND school, Wolverhampton

Across the whole trust

"It's their school. It's not my school, it's theirs."

Damien Cresswell · Associate Head, Keys Group

A door opened

"He's gone on to college, and he pins it on talking."

Danny Hart · Head of Literacy, SEMH

Pupil-led change

"That's democracy, you know?"

Rachel Gray · Year 4 Teacher

Every voice, every language

"We're in this together, and everyone's voices are important."

Louise Russell · PSHE lead, international school

A headteacher's belief

"A school is not a school without children. It is their school."

Lisa Taylor · Headteacher, Halling

Wall of love ❤️

Loved by pupils, teachers, heads and MATs

★★★★★

It's brilliant. A far better and simpler way to run student voice and build confidence.

BE
Beth
Secondary Teacher
★★★★★

Our visually impaired pupils love this. It's learning how to debate, but without the stuffiness.

CO
Conor
Teacher, SEN
★★★★★

Our students can now record their voice easily, and I can get them thinking more critically with tough but insightful debate topics. Thank you, Smart School Councils!

RS
Rizwana Sarwar
PSHE & Life Skills Teacher, New Bridge College
★★★★★

A great way to promote pupil voice. Children can air their views in a fun, engaging way.

DV
Davinder
Primary Teacher
★★★★★

A great way to help young people build their voices and make change.

PH
Phil
Assistant Head, PRU
★★★★★

Smart School Councils are great. Anybody who sees it in action can only be inspired.

AC
Alastair Campbell
Writer & broadcaster · @campbellclaret
★★★★★

What the team are doing is a powerful demonstration of what's possible everywhere, when people, even children as young as four, are given a real chance to make their voices heard.

Brian Eno
Musician · Coral Foundation
★★★★★

It's fantastic. It develops lifelong skills of debate and speaking. So important for our pupils.

DA
Damien
Deputy Head, SEN
★★★★★

We want our children to be leaders of change. It's their school.

LT
Lisa Taylor
Headteacher, Halling Primary
Greg Sanderson, founder of Smart School Councils
Why we exist

Every child deserves a voice, not just a few.

We're a registered charity improving the old school council model, which only gets a small number of voices involved and is hard to run, so every child can speak up and make change.

Greg SandersonFounder