School Council
Sustainability initiative following Tunbridge Wells Water Crisis
Like most schools in Tunbridge Wells, Bishops Down School was impacted by the recent water shortages across the town. We received a lot of water in plastic bottles which has left us with a huge about of empty plastic containers.
The School Council's focus this year is sustainability, so we wanted to find a way to re-use the bottles. The Gardening Club came up with a great idea to use the empty bottles as flower pot containers for their planting programme across the school. We now have plants growing all through the school.
We wrote to Mike Martin to let him know!
MP Mike Martin replied to us:
UK Parliament Week
This week has been Parliament Week in schools, a national initiative to share information about British government with children and young people, across the country.
At school, we started the week with our whole school assembly, that looked at the Houses of Parliament and the role of the House of Commons and the House of Lords, both historic places that have been part of the country's government for over 300 years. We talked about how rules start as Bills that are discussed and reviewed, before they can become Acts and new laws. We also talked about the importance of everyone having a voice, with people voting for Members of Parliament or MPs who then represent them in their constituencies. We learnt that this election process is called a democracy, which is part of our British Values.
The PSA have also supported Parliament Week, asking each class to cast a ballot regarding the spending of PSA funds. The children were given 4 areas to chose from, and voted on an area that they wanted supported in school. The PSA counted the votes, and I'm please to report that the children chose, planting trees or wildflowers for pollinators for the spring term. Great news!
And finally today, Mike Martin, MP for Tunbridge Wells, joined us for a Parliament Week Assembly to talk about his role and to take a Q&A session with the children. Mr Martin then joined our School Council to discuss their sustainability project. Thank you to Mr Martin for visiting our school and sharing the importance of having a voice in our community with the children.
June / July 2025 Up-Date
The School Council's main project this year has been the History Timeline (both world and local history) in the main corridor - and they have done a brilliant job! The Council has worked with school staff, parents, with staff from the Amelia Centre and with the graphic designers to create the visual display. It has been a really successful project.
The aim of the new timeline, is to provide a strong visual framework to support the children’s understanding of chronology and the interconnectedness of events through time. Each time the children walk past the timeline they are exposed to information repeatedly, which helps embed it in their long-term memory without them even realising they are learning! The timeline has already stimulated the children’s curiosity and discussion about history and chronology. We have enjoyed hearing children refer to the timeline during their history lessons this term and have even heard some children choosing a specific event to find out more about in their own time.
Mrs Johnson and the School Council
November 2024 Up-Date
This week, I met with the School Council to discuss the autumn programme that the children will be leading for the school. Their first main project is the Travel Plan initiative and started this initiative by running a Poster Competition to help reduce congestion at the school gates at morning drop-off and pick-up in the afternoon. Ideas for the key messages on the poster were:
- why drive if you can walk?
- driving to our gates isn't safe
- parking away and walking the last 10 minutes is safer and healthier
- be considerate of our neighbours
- our school environment doesn't need car fumes!
The winner and runners up were announced in Monday's Assembly, and the winning designs will be used on the gate and fence at the front of the school and shared with the local authority. Well done to Emma (and Megan helping) who had the winning designN
Mrs Johnson and the School Council
Rotakids and School Council Non-Uniform Day
The School Council will also be working with the Rotakids to run the highly popular Hot Chocolate Reindeer stand at the Christmas Fayre this year. To raise funds to buy the ingredients, the School Council asked for a non-uniform Day on Friday 22nd of November. I am delighted to announce that the event raised £150 which will be used to purchase the ingredients for the Rota Kids stall at the Christmas Fair on the 19th of December.
The Rotary Club is run by Miss Barker
