New for 26/27

Ten things that are new

Almost all of it came from a teacher telling us something took too long, or that they were not sure they were doing it right. So each one below is listed by the job it takes off you, not by what it is called.

Sign in and have a lookSee what training is on

Sent to every class
01

Never plan a class meeting again

Thousands of ready-made questions, searchable by topic, most with pictures for younger classes and many with a short film or a debate pack. Alongside them now sits every question other member schools have run, and how many schools used it.

Pick one, send it to every class, about a minute.

Personal development
British values
Pupil leadership
Ready to print
02

Your inspection evidence, written as you go

Everything your pupils say is sorted under the headings inspectors ask about, with the pupils' own words underneath. There is a full evidence pack you can print or save and hand over.

This covers state schools in England today. The other inspectorates and independent settings are next, and your dashboard shows where we are up to.

Who does what?
A quick quiz
Lightning debate
Name your team
Your promise
03

A first meeting that runs itself

The launch meeting is a full-screen script a pupil reads straight off your whiteboard. Roles, a quiz, a lightning debate, choosing their team name, writing their promise to the school. You press start and step back.

There is a preview button if you want a walk through on your own first.

13 resources, with your name on
04

Picking your team, without the faff

Thirteen printable resources, all carrying your school's name, your logo and your election date. Posters, an application form, a script for the pupil making the announcement, ballot sheets, a count sheet, interview cards, a scoring sheet and certificates for everyone who stood.

What your school said
lunchtimesfriendshipsthe playgroundhomework
05

Two minutes to know what your whole school thinks

Every response from every class, read and summarised for you. What keeps coming up, what has shifted since last term, what the quieter classes are saying. Every idea is tagged by theme, so you can open one and read every pupil voice behind it.

Short enough to forward to your head before a meeting.

Attendance
Behaviour
Belonging
06

Your improvement plan, in your pupils' words

Upload your SIP, SEF, SDP or Standards and Quality Report. We pull out your priorities and turn each one into questions your pupils can genuinely lead on.

So when governors ask what pupils think about your priority on behaviour, you have already asked them.

Autumn 1, meeting one
Present
Decided
Doing next
Who is on it
Saved to your minutes
07

Minutes you did not have to write

Your pupil team's meetings are written up as you run them. Who was there, what they decided, what they agreed to do next. Every meeting filed by year.

A governor asking what the council did last spring becomes a thirty second answer.

Year 3
Year 4
Year 5
Year 6
One class to nudge
08

See which classes have actually met

One page showing every class, how many meetings each has run and how many ideas came out of them.

You can see who is flying and who has not started without opening anything or asking anyone.

Pupils asked
Working on it
Done
Live on your school website
09

Put the change on your school website

"You said, we did" turns the changes your council made into a timeline you can print for a display. And the progress board is a live display you can drop straight into your own school website, which fills up as your council records what has changed.

Councils fizzle out when pupils stop believing anything happens. This is the fix for that.

Smart School CouncilThe Voice SquadPupil Parliament
10

Call your team what your school calls it

Plenty of schools do not say school council. Tell us it is the Voice Squad and your dashboard, your posters and your certificates all say Voice Squad.

One name, set once, used throughout.

Forming this year

And communities, opening through 26/27

We are setting up groups of schools who want to compare notes. Scottish schools, Welsh schools, independent schools, special schools, and schools starting from scratch this year. Ask the same question, see what pupils elsewhere said, borrow what works.

These are forming rather than open. Save your school a spot from the Community page and we will bring you in as each one launches.

You are not being asked to do more this year

Most of the above exists to make the same job take less of you, and to make what your pupils say easier to show to the people who ask for it. Your refresher CPD is included, and the first session is on Tuesday 8 September.

Sign in to your schoolBook onto a session

Greg, Founder @ Smart School Councils