Speaking up at school

Everyone has the right to feel valued, respected and safe. That includes when you're at school.

And that includes YOU!

We believe all schools should be listening schools where: Schools really listen to children Any child who feels unsafe or unhappy at school has someone they can turn to As far as possible, children have a say in decisions made at school that affect them

Make your school a listening school

How well does your school listen to you? If you don't think your school listens very well, maybe we can help.

We have a team of education advisors who help teachers and set up listening projects in schools. Talk to a teacher or bring it up in a school cuncil meeting for them to get in touch with us and we'll see how we can help.

What are listening projects? There are different sorts of listening projects. Popular ones include school councils and peer support schemes.

School councils

School councils help give pupils a real say in school life.

Here's how it works:

A group of students are chosen to be on the school council. They might meet with teachers and school governors once a month.

Before each meeting, the students ask their classmates if there is anything they want the council to talk about.

After the meeting, students on the council report back to their classmates and explain what was talked about, including news from teachers.

Schools councils give pupils a chance to:

• Let teachers know what they really think

• Let teachers know if anything is wrong

• Talk with teachers about any new decisions or new school policies that might affect you

• Help teachers tackle problems, such as bullying, racism, violence or drugs, by letting them know that the problems exist

• Work together with teachers to make schools a better place for everyone

Peer support Peer support is another great way of finding someone who can help at school. We know it's often much easier to talk about a school problem to another student, after all, they probably know what it feels like.

Peer means friend, and the idea of a peer support scheme is that some students are specially trained so they know how to listen to a classmate who is having problems and they can help them find a solution.

To find out more about our work with schools, email education@nspcc.org.uk.