For Scottish schools

A Pupil Council
led by pupils.

A Pupil Council with real structure, real evidence and a lot more inclusion. £199 for the year, whole school.

Pupils smiling together while writing their ideas at a Pupil Council event Reaches every class No extra workload HGIOS4 evidence Nothing to plan
Loved by
Keys Group Blackpool Council
Building better pupil voice

What a Smart School Council changes

The usual Pupil Council
  • The same few pupils, deciding for everyone
  • Meetings to plan, and staff carrying it
  • Patchy, last-minute evidence that might not stand up
A Smart School Council
  • Pupils run it, and the question goes out to every class
  • Every meeting arrives ready, nothing to plan
  • Evidence building as you go, for HGIOS4 and your improvement plan
Pupils lead it

Every meeting, already prepared

Your Pupil Council picks a question and the whole meeting comes with it: the slides, the debate pack, the video. Nothing to plan and nothing to print. Pupils run it, in every class.

Pupils leading their class meeting
Straight back to you

Immediate pupil-voice insights

The moment pupils vote you get a plain-English read on the themes and the ideas. That is learner participation, evidenced as it happens rather than written up afterwards.

From that, you learn
📈 20% more mentions of noise than this time last year
🔎 Year 6 pupils are most likely to want a quiet space
💬 43 comments across all 7 classes
● Live7 of 7 classes voted
How could we make lunchtimes better?
More time to eat41%
A quieter space24%
More choice18%
💬 What pupils said
🧒🏽

"It gets too loud in the hall"

Year 4 pupil
🧒🏿

"We never get time to finish our food"

Year 3 pupil
🧒🏼

"Can we have a quiet table?"

Year 5 pupil
Evidence, always

The evidence dashboard

Every meeting builds evidence against the HGIOS4 indicators, the four capacities of Curriculum for Excellence, and Article 12 of the UNCRC, now in Scots law. See what is ready and export it the moment anyone asks.

Your evidenceHGIOS4
1 of 6 areas evidence-ready
21 class meetings · 1.2k pupil votes
Responsible citizens3 of 4 ✓
Effective contributorsReady ✓
Learner participationBuilding
Children’s rightsNot yet

Typically the more able, the more confident and the more advantaged.

Who gets elected to a Pupil Council. Our research with UCL’s Institute of Education.

Pupil Councils often only hear from a small group. We build on the Pupil Council you already have so that it reaches every voice: the quiet child, the pupil with additional support needs.

Subsidised places

Set your school up

£199 for the year, whole school. No per-pupil cost.
10subsidised places for Scottish schools
  • A CPD session to get your team started, and a full year of membership
  • Meetings and elections, done for you
  • 10,000 ready-made questions, nothing to plan
  • Evidence building as you go, for HGIOS4 and your improvement plan
  • Pay by invoice or card, cancel anytime
Trusted in 700 UK schools · Registered charity 1156110

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From us, and from school leaders

Who you would be joining

Greg Sanderson, founder of Smart School Councils

We are a UK education charity, and around 700 schools run this with us. I am holding ten of these places for Scottish schools, and if you email me about one, it will be me who replies.

Greg SandersonFounder, Smart School Councils
★★★★★

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

LT
Lisa Taylor
Headteacher, Halling Primary
★★★★★

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

DA
Damien Cresswell
Associate Head, Keys Group
★★★★★

There's no added workload. It's all resourced. That's the biggest barrier removed.

DH
Danny Hart
Head of Literacy, The Observatory School
Good to know

Frequently asked questions

Does it add to teacher workload?

No. It gives your Pupil Council lead a clear structure to run the year, with ready-made questions, debate packs and videos for every class meeting. Pupils lead the meetings; staff facilitate, they don't prep.

Which stages does it work with?

Every stage, early years through primary and secondary, and ASN and special schools. The questions and format adapt to the class.

Is pupil data safe?

The platform stores no sensitive pupil data. It's GDPR-compliant and safeguarding-first.

Is there really no per-pupil cost?

No. £199 covers the whole school for the year, however many pupils and classes you have, and it includes the CPD session and a full year of membership.