Hay presents Foyle View with award

The Speaker’s School Council Awards is a national award scheme that celebrates and recognises excellence in school councils.

It was initiated by the Speaker of the House of Commons, who wished to recognise and acknowledge the most inspiring achievements of school councils across the UK.

Principal, Dr Michael Dobbins, gave a rationale for getting involved with the award: “Applying for the Speaker’s School Council Awards gives you a chance to work together to promote your council and publicise your successes.

“The application process itself is a great way of getting together as a school council to assess your past achievements and I want to congratulate the pupils and staff who work hard to make our student council a success.”

Run by Parliament’s Education Service on behalf of the Speaker, the awards invite schools and colleges across the country to nominate their most innovative, effective and exciting school council projects.

The awards were open to every infant, primary and secondary school, as well as student and learner colleges in the UK.

Participating students can be aged anywhere from 4 to 19 and last year over 2,000 schools across the UK registered for the award.

Projects were judged in the following categories: how people get on; your school building and environment; getting more people involved; things outside your school; and learning and teaching.

A shortlist of 20 finalist schools was selected, including projects run by infant-age children (4-7), junior-age children (7-11), secondary-age young people (11-16) and young adults (post-16) in each of the categories.

An expert judging panel including the Speaker of the House of Commons, Rt Hon John Bercow MP, will choose the four winning entries - one in each age range and the runner-up. Foyle View came runner-up in the 11-16 age category.

For further information contact the school on 02871263270.