Volunteer Groups
What are we doing this year (2023-2024)?
At Stepney Park, children have a range of opportunities to volunteer, including in a number of volunteer groups. These aim to foster a strong sense of community across our school.
This is what we are planning to achieve this year:
School Council:
- Gathering children's ideas about how we can continue to improve our school
- Gathering ideas for future whole school competitions that we can run at lunchtimes.
Ecology Ambassadors:
- Selecting the next planters to prioritise.
- During the autumn, the planters will need weeding and cleaning.
- To be ready for spring, plants will be ordered later on in the year.
- Planting new plants.
Community Ambassadors:
- Choosing the next planters that will benefit from being painted
- Sanding, priming and then deciding which pattern to paint.
- Painting the planters.
Playground Captains:
- Continue to setup and resource the quiet areas.
- Talk to children about how we can improve the quiet areas.
- Monitor the friendship bench.
School Journalists:
- Continue to collect stories from across the school
- Work alongside the School Council to promote the pupil voice and gather feedback
- Publish their work in the Stepney Park Voice each month
What did we achieve last year (2021-2022)?
Last year, our Change Groups met regularly to discuss, action and review various aspects of our school. The six different groups included children from year 1 to year 6. Some of the actions from last year include:
School Council
- We gathered feedback from many children that the playground needed more resources. Then, after being given a budget to spend, we chose the equipment that children had asked for.
- We created 'Dinner Winners' which celebrates the most respectful and responsible year group each week, at lunchtime.
- We launched the mural competition which now has the winning entry painted on a playground wall.
- We created a whole school questionnaire that decided which Islamic Relief project to donate to.
Ecology Ambassadors
- We identified which playground planters needed weeding.
- We weeded, cleaned and prepared the planters for spring.
- We planted new plants in spring.
Playground Captains
- We set up and resourced the quiet areas in the north and south playgrounds.
- We monitored the friendship benches.
Community Ambassadors
- We identified that the planters could be aesthetically improved.
- We sanded, primed and painted the planters.
School Journalists
- Each week, we collected stories from across the school (e.g. about events, trips, activities and announcements).
- We collaborated to write engaging articles.
- We published our work in the Stepney Park Voice each month.