Pupil Voice @ The Key

Why Pupil Voice is important!

At The Key Education Centre we believe that ‘ Pupil Voice is  not simply having a school council, it is more about ‘forming more open and trustful relationships between staff and students’ (Hargreaves, 2004), and that this approach aligns with our Attachment and Trauma Informed practice, where we value relationships and, provides us with the opportunities to put our pupils at the heart of all that we do.  Through Pupil Voice we aim to develop a system that  ‘values personal knowledge and… promotes student ownership’ (Nystrand M et al, 1997), an opportunity to develop The Key in a fair and equitable way for all stakeholders. 

For many of the pupils who attend The Key, their previous experiences of education have not always been positive. At The Key we are committed to ensuring that pupils feel they have a say in their education and have a confident understanding of the decisions that are made regarding the curriculum and the wider school. Pupil Voice forms an important part of this process and enables pupils to provide feedback on a range of areas. 

Our Pupil Voice model seeks to encourage the greatest number of  pupils to engage in Pupil Voice opportunities.  Our Pupil Voice activities take place every half term, whilst some of these activities are developed across the school,  others are more site specific to best reflect the needs of our individual sites and transient cohort. We use surveys and Google forms to generate questionnaires and gather data along with an established School Council where areas for development are identified.  Pupils are then encouraged to work towards developing the outcomes, recognising that the skills learnt through Pupil Voice are highly transferable.  Helping pupils develop life and work skills such as  oracy and presentation techniques along with confidence, and our key values of Respect, Resilience and Aspiration.  

The outcomes of the meetings and surveys are fed back to staff and pupils in an assembly.


Our recent topics for Pupil Voice include

Our Cross-site Strategic Leads for Pupil Voice is:

Mrs Mo Osborne  (Curriculum Leader - Havant Site)