PROGRESS Stories

Student survey helps the school council get to the root of the problem

Tariq sat on the bench in the playground as the wind whipped around him. Not for the first time, he thought that there must be a better way of spending break. Looking around the large expanse of tarmac, he noted the coloured markings for different games, the football area with its rowdy crowd of boys, the small games area where children were practicing skipping and walking on stilts, and the quieter space that he currently occupied which had some benches and a big tub of flowers.

In many ways, the space was really nice: there was plenty of room for everyone, it was zoned for different activities so that football didn't dominate and there was stacks of equipment to suit the children's many ages, stages and interests. It was just so exposed. The wind was a particular problem. It was a stream of icy air in winter and, though warm, a constant irritation in summer. It picked up the leaves in autumn and pushed litter into eddies at every time of year.

As someone without much interest in sport, Tariq found it particularly aggravating. No matter where he sat or stood, he had the wind to contend with and when, like today, it was laced with fine spray of rain, it was even more unpleasant. It wasn't exactly raining and there was no reason for the children to be inside, but it wasn't nice to sit out in either.

Tariq had noticed that the situation was even worse in the secondary school he would be attending next year. Just last week, his class had been for an induction day to the large, modern building that would be the centre of his education for the next five years. The tarmac was bleak, without friendly game markings, devoid of zones and minus equipment. It was more akin to a barren wasteland inhabited by giants with strength and speed.

Here in his primary school, the school council had been grappling with ways of making the playground better. As one of the reps from his class, he really enjoyed being part of the group who were charged with making the school an even better place. He felt a faint stir of pride at the suggestions and improvements that had already come about as a result of the school council's involvement in school policy and practice.

When Antidote's survey of the school's emotional environment showed that the playground buddy system wasn't working for a large percentage of the children in the school, he had organised an enquiry into what people thought was going on. It had been fun to put all the information together and discover that, though playground buddies existed and were on the playground each lunchtime wearing their orange bibs and looking out for lonely children, the system wasn't working.

It had all boiled down to a lack of training. The teacher who had been in charge of the buddies left to have a baby at the end of last year and she hadn't come back. She had been replaced as a classroom teacher but no-one seemed to have noticed that the other jobs she did were now left undone. When the school council pointed it out to the headteacher, he had asked if another member of staff was interested in being in charge of the buddies and the Year 5 teaching assistant had taken it on. She was brilliant and Tariq was pleased all over again at the positive change they had brought about.

He felt the wind tug at his light jacket and push its cool fingers round his ankles. He wondered what the school council could do with this problem too. Maybe they could look into bus shelters in the playground. It would be great to have some kind of see-through protection, where the children could play or read quietly but still see the other children's games and still be seen by the adults on the playground.

Tariq idly wondered how much a bus shelter cost. He had a feeling he'd seen something of the kind in the catalogue they looked through when the school council was asked to help in choosing new playground equipment at the end of last year. Perhaps he would raise it at the next school council meeting. He was even pretty sure they could raise the money with a sponsored event or a stall at the summer fete. Maybe a shelter would help the children who felt lonely or frightened on the playground. A buddy or two could be delegated to look after the quiet, sheltered area each lunchtime and the could provide drawing equipment and books.

Tariq began to feel excited as his imagination took over. His thoughts went to next year. He wondered if there was a school council in the secondary school, and whether they would be interested in his idea, too.


PROGRESS Stories