To run a school council election, give it two weeks: announce it to every class, invite any pupil to stand with a simple application form, let candidates campaign with a poster of three ideas, then hold the vote with ballot papers in every class and announce the results the same day. This guide covers the whole fortnight, with the posters, ballot papers, application forms, badges and certificates you need, free.
The election is not admin before the real work starts. It is the first piece of pupil voice of the year. If pupils choose their team, the team speaks with the school's permission. If adults choose, it is a group of sensible children with a title. Everything your school council does afterwards is easier or harder because of how this fortnight goes.
There is no single right way. A vote is the classic. Applications suit smaller schools or younger year groups. Interviews suit schools that want the roles to feel like real jobs. Mixing them works well, and applications first, then a vote is the most common pattern we see across our member schools.
One rule matters more than the rest: nobody who stands should end the fortnight with nothing. Every candidate gets a certificate and a public thank you. Children who stand and lose gracefully are exactly the children you want to stand again next year.
Put a poster up in every corridor and have a pupil read a short announcement in every class. Not a teacher. The message lands differently when it comes from a child: this is ours, not theirs.
Application forms go out and come back. Any pupil can stand. A good form asks three things: why I want to do it, one thing I would change, and the name of a teacher who knows I'm standing. If you get too many candidates, that is a good problem.
Candidate posters go up: first name, year group and three things they would do. No promises about vending machines. Keeping the poster to three ideas keeps the campaign about ideas rather than popularity.
Ballot papers in every class, or one voting station at lunch. Every pupil gets one vote, including the youngest. A pupil acts as returning officer and runs the count. Results go up the same day: a week's delay tells pupils the vote was not urgent.
Certificates for the elected team and for every candidate, in assembly if you can. Badges for the team. Photograph the moment for the newsletter.
Most schools run elections in the second and third full weeks of September. That is early enough that the new team owns the whole year, and late enough that new classes have settled. Some schools re-elect in January to give a second cohort the experience; if you do, keep the autumn team on as mentors rather than starting from zero.
Keep it to a handful, and name them for what they do:
Meeting Runner, who leads the meetings so the teacher doesn't have to.
Communicator, who tells the school what happened and what changed.
Class Reps, who make sure every class takes part, not just the loudest ones.
Traditional titles like Chair, Secretary and Treasurer work too, but plain-English roles are easier for younger pupils to stand for and to actually do.
The school name, the date, one line of instructions ("put one cross in one box"), and the candidates' first names with a box beside each. Nothing else. Print two per A4 sheet and cut them, and give the count sheet to a pupil returning officer.
The worst thing a new school council can do is have a meeting about having meetings. Give them a real job in their first week: run a class meeting where every class in the school answers the same question. In one week your new team has heard from the whole school, and the whole school has seen the team do something. That is the difference between a school council and a Smart School Council: not a committee that represents pupils, but a team that hears all of them.
Everything in this guide exists as ready-to-print resources: the teacher's pack, announcement and candidate posters, application forms, ballot papers, a count sheet, interview question cards, badges, certificates for winners and for standing, and a launch assembly you can present or take away as a PowerPoint.
Member schools get every resource personalised automatically, with your school's name, badge and election date already on them, under Pick your team in your dashboard. Not a member? See how it works in the live example school, or start with our free school council guide.
Same-day results, one vote per pupil including the youngest year groups, posters limited to three ideas so campaigns stay about substance, and a pupil running the count with an adult watching rather than the other way round.
Yes. The application form keeps it real without keeping anyone out: asking for one idea and a teacher's name filters for seriousness, not confidence. Quieter pupils are often the best Class Reps.
It usually means the announcement came from an adult. Re-run it with a pupil reading the announcement and a shorter form. If it still happens, appoint the first team openly and run a full election in January once the council has something visible to its name.
Yes, and it matters that they do. A show of pictures instead of names works for Reception. The habit of being asked starts younger than most schools think.
See it in a real school
Ready-made topics, a short meeting each class runs itself as often as suits you, and every child's view in one place rather than the same few voices. Have a look round an anonymised school, no sign-up.
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