Student Voice Forum 2024/2025
In 2024, St. Raphaela's established our first student voice forum. This took the form of a student assembly where students from each base class group were randomly invited to attend and share their opinions and voice. The fourteenth student on each class list was invited and students discussed the following topics:
- Where is your voice heard? Where can we improve on placing student voice?
- How do we build a safe space for student voices to be heard? What would make you feel more comfortable sharing your thoughts?
- Who listens when you speak up (teachers, principal/deputy principal, classmates)? What happens after your opinions are shared?
- Where can we improve on placing student voice? What decisions or areas of school life do you wish you could influence more?
- Students were given the school's homework policy for discussion, amendments and additions.
Our Overall Aims:
- To provide opportunities for all students in the school to develop their voice in school.
- To improve and establish a mechanism to ensure seldom heard students are listened to and involved in decision making.
- To involve students in the creation of policies, development of initiatives and strategic planning of the school.
- To ensure diverse student perspectives are heard, promoting inclusivity and understanding among different groups.
- To build the leadership capacity of all students.
Student Assemblies Format:
- Students’ Assemblies will be held four times a year and a specific area of focus will be decided in advance.
- Students will be chosen at random, reflecting a random subsection of the school’s population. One student from each base class group will be chosen and they will not be chosen again for the subsequent SV Assembly.