1. Pupil participation @ Harlaw Academy
Purposes
meaningful voice in school improvements
pupil involvement in school self-evaluation
consult, inform and/or involve pupils in decisions
promote participation and have issues addressed
autonomy and budget to take and implement decisions
pupil role in school governance alongside staff, parents, staff and community
recognising and realising rights 1

2. Pupil participation @ Harlaw Academy
Links to UNCRC:
Article 12 – the right to have a say in matters affecting them and have their views taken seriously
Article 13 – the right to seek and receive information
Article 15 – the right to join groups
Article 29 – the right to an education which develops their talents to the full
Article 42 – the requirement to make the convention known to all children and adults 2

3. Pupil participation @ Harlaw Academy
Structure:
Every pupil is a member of the pupil forum
Ideas hub, google group and/or pupil representative.
Each form class has an elected pupil representative
Pupil representatives meet in their 5 house groups – our house of representative meetings
Each house of representative group has a house captain who serves on the pupil senate.
All S4-S6 can serve as a prefect and in S6 they can apply for a head prefect post (up to 4 posts).
House Captains and Head Prefects form the pupil senate. The senate link with other school governance groups and have responsibility for their devolved budget. 3

4. Pupil participation @ Harlaw Academy4

5. Pupil participation @ Harlaw Academy
Organisation
Stage 1: Ideas prompted
Stage 2: Meeting of the ‘house of representatives’
and pupil senate
Stage 3: Initial feedback of decisions (see below)
Stage 4: Feedback updated and focus for next cycle
House of representatives and the senate can decide to:
‘reject’ (giving reason for the rejection)
‘defer’ (for further detail)
‘approve’ (with information on implementation)
‘escalate’ (pass on for further consideration/approval) 5

6. Pupil participation @ Harlaw Academy Pathways to participation
Communication/interaction - all the pupil forum can participate through class discussion, google groups and/or the pupil ‘ideas hub’
Improvement/autonomy – discussions linked to our agreed school improvement priorities. Pupil senate allocate topics to a house/class or convene pupil focus groups discuss a topic and report back. At each level pupils are empowered to take decisions
Leadership/partnership – The senate attend Senior Leadership Team (SLT) and Parent Council meetings. Harlaw also has a ‘governance group’ (of pupils, parents, staff and community reps) which meets twice a session to monitor and support school improvement 6