Cedar Mount High School - Clip 2

From this page you can watch how Cedar Mount High School gives all pupils a voice.

 

Below the transcript you'll find the download links for the video. There are six options for watching this video, depending on which software you have.

Transcript

Guy Hutchence, Headteacher: In terms of inclusion, it’s always been the mission at Cedar Mount High School since we first launched seven years ago, to be what I refer to as a really inclusive school.

The importance of pupil voice was that we should be concerned not just with academic success rates, we should be concerned about helping to create the architects of tomorrow. If we can create every single year, another 180 youngsters that go out there to colleges with a social responsibility, a global responsibility, then we will have achieved something.

Debbie Wilson, Director of Teaching and Learning: The key ethos really is that we want to include every single pupil. We don’t want pupils to feel marginalised because they might have some kind of learning difficulty or physical difficulty, we want all children to feel that they’ve got an equal role to play within the school community and that their voice matters and that we will listen to what they have to say.

Boy: Welcome ladies and gentlemen, I’d like to introduce to you my fellow companions who are here about to talk of some of the suggestions from us as pupils on the view of how our teachers should be in order to improve our lessons.

Girl: Strive to interest all pupils, therefore the whole class, is in the lesson.

Debbie Wilson: Pupils are our biggest resource and as a classroom practitioner, you can often get into some quite bad habits I think, and pupils are the best ones to actually tell you what things teachers do that pupils respond to and they’re so honest.

Boy: Tip seven, find time in class for children to move around.

Debbie Wilson: They want to get involved, they want to have hands-on experience, they want to have lots of different opportunities, they don’t just want to sit there and be told about the world around them.

Boy: We’re just going to talk about how it’s been for you as a peer mentor and how it’s helped other year 7s and other pupils in the school.

Girl: When I started as a peer mentor, it helped me a lot.

Debbie Wilson: You've got to be careful when you're involving pupils with different abilities that you're not patronising towards them. I think they've got to feel that their input is valid. We're hopefully fostering an environment  where they're sensitive to others' needs, whether it be, you know, somebody finds for example, standing up and delivering information to a room full of people, quite difficult. That pupil would be supported in that, and you know, the peer mentors would be expected to help and to support an individual in that context.

Boy: When the, when the new year 7 arrive in school, the peer mentors will be there at break and lunch to help them find their way and make new friends.

Debbie Wilson: Peer mentoring works on two levels. What we try and do is, encourage pupils who often have problems themselves, to take a significant responsibility. But if you've seen the children involved develop and grow as a consequence of that responsibility, it makes it all worthwhile.

Kristina: I know how it feels because I used to get bullied a lot in year 7, and it, it just feels great to feel that you can help someone else in their problems and that.

Marcus: If you don't feel included, like, what's the point in being here if I'm not included?

Bethany: I know what it feels like when you don't want to ask a teacher, and you need to ask someone, but there's no one to ask, so you need to ask someone with a bit of experience.

Debbie Wilson: It's all about really giving pupils a vehicle to, to be more caring and considerate towards each other.

Boy: There should be more bins inside school as well, not just outside.

Debbie Wilson: I don't think there's ever been a better opportunity for staff and pupils to work together and to share ideas, and to have a serious way of looking at things, and working to change things. You know, wanting to have an impact. Not just things that you talk about and forget about, but you know, how we can actually make a difference.