Whitchurch CE Primary School is federated with Weston-under-Penyard CE Primary School, and pupils from both schools have been participating in events, including art projects, a visit to Newport Stadium, and what turned out to be a nine-mile walk.

On Monday, November 6th, class representatives from both schools who were voted as school councillors previously, met at Whitchurch Primary School to have their very first joint council meeting.

Luisa Lee-Smith, who teaches at both primary schools, said: “This is part of working towards our Unicef Rights and Respecting Schools Award, which is all about the children knowing they have got rights and responsibilities.”

Luisa added that the staff at both schools meet and plan together, in order to to have human rights at the heart of its ethos and curriculum. “The only thing that is different is the site,” Luisa added.

“At the end of last year we got our Unicef recognition of commitment, and now we are working towards Level 1. The whole process takes about 2-3 years.”

“The children set the agenda for the meeting, and we’ll have a feedback session on what is going well, for example, our behaviour and rewards system that has been implemented, and what we can improve on.”

The meeting started with the Whitchurch pupils choosing a ‘buddy’ from Weston-under-Penyard that they did not know, and giving them a short tour of the their school. The pupils were of evenly mixed ages and genders.

After the meeting, the children enjoyed biscuits and cake.