At Medstead we believe Pupil Voice to be very important in shaping the running of the school. Children have the opportunity to put themselves forward for positions of responsibility as they move through the school each year. Some of the roles for which they apply are allocated through an anonymised peer voting system. Each child who takes on one of these positions wears a badge to show their role. These badges are returned at the end of a school year to be redistributed to new badge holders. The positions of responsibility held by our children range from:

Young Environmentalists

Survey the changing animal and plant life through the seasons in the extensive school grounds and the locality. This group provide top tips for being green in the weekly school Newsletter. They are working with key staff and governors to lead the school towards Eco Schools' Status through a variety of initiatives to reduce the carbon footprint of our school community.

Creating markers for trees to monitor through the changing seasons is one activity the Young Environmentalists have enjoyed.

Young Governors  

Co-ordinate fund raising projects for the school. The Young Governors meet regularly with the Headteacher and bring suggestions and any concerns from their peers to their attention and help devise ways forward.

Worship Leaders 

For key church services such as Easter and Christmas, as well as regular school-based worship, these children take responsibility for leading prayers, reading Bible extracts and acting out scenes from different faith stories. They have the honour of bringing their colourful class lantern to the central table in the hall for each whole school Worship (3x a week) as a focal symbol of togetherness. Year 6 members meet as part of the Church Schools' Council with Year 6 pupils from other local faith schools, visiting churches and neighbouring schools.

Art Ambassadors  

Have a pivotal role in co-ordinating events for our annual Arts Week. They also regularly tour the school awarding board and individual display certificates for exemplary and innovative pieces created by the children

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Art Ambassadors engage in a workshop with local artist Rachel Hudson as part of our annual Arts Week.

British Sign Language Buddies  

These children learn BSL alongside our deaf children and children with reduced hearing who attend the school through our Specialist Provision for the Deaf. They sign the choruses to songs in Worship and help with the signing of key topic words in their classrooms as well as sometimes producing a sign supported play.

Digital Leaders

Are responsible for keeping the school's technological equipment safely stored and accessible for all classes. They provide support in each class for their peers and staff with computing. They promote e-safety across the school.

Learning Mentors/Reading Buddies

These children help their younger peers with weekly times table and spellings practice. They also read with younger children and foster a love of books.

Playground Pals/Peer Mentors

These children provide playground support for any "lost and lonely" children at play times. They organise our Chatterbox system where children can leave a message to ask for support. The Chatterbox is in the school Hall and all children need to do is write their name on a slip of paper provided and pop it in the drawer labelled with their year group. A Playground Pal or Peer Mentor will then follow this up. This system is facilitated by the teacher who leads the Peer Mentors/Playground Pals group.

Young Journalists

Young Journalists are responsible for selecting and writing about exciting school events for the Medstead Times.

Junior Road Safety Officers

Older children go out for a day's training with a member of our school staff. They then help younger members of our Road Safety Team to encourage environmentally friendly travel to school and promote safe and sensible parking outside the school. They wash the car which wins the termly prize draw for being well-parked!

Librarians

Help children use our electronic scanning system to check their library books in and out as well as organising the Library so that it looks beautiful and inviting for children to spend time in.

Oak Buddies

Play with our Reception children in their own playground and field area for the Autumn Term when they settling in to school, then help our youngest children make the transition to the big playground and in their first Spring Term.

Office Angels

Drawn from Year 6, these children use some of their lunch hours to assist with administrative duties such as photocopying, collating and laminating. They are also taught to develop an efficient telephone manner and deal with routine calls.

Sports Captains

Our eldest pupils take this responsibility, with a boy and a girl from each of our Houses being joint Captains. As well as helping audit and maintain P.E equipment through the year, Sports Captains are key to Sports Day. In the lead up to this special day, and on the day itself, Sports Captains rally members of their house across all year groups to contribute to the team sprit of this competitive event where individual scores also count towards overall House totals.

Sports Captains were asked to design a logo to signpost a proposed local footpath, encouraging children to engage in walking as part of a healthy lifestyle.

House Captains

Each of our six Houses has two House Captains from Year 6. These pupils help organise House Worships each half term when children from classes across the school meet as a House group with the teacher who leads their House. It is a great opportunity for children from different year groups to get to know one another. They find out about their House Hero and bring this information back to share in their class so all the children get to know about the House Heroes.

Young Entrepreneurs

Help organise an annual mini business such as The French Café or New to You uniform sale to raise funds. They build their co-operative skills in devising this financially sound project. They help children across the school engage in the lead up to the events and on the day.