Student Leadership

Another new school year, another new School Council

September 2023

As the new academic year begins, we say thank you and goodbye to our outgoing School Council. We will be holding a celebration of their work and commitment with the newly elected School Councillors. There were some truly wonderful speeches during the election processes, with the children showing ideas and opinions for the future of the school and their classes.

We are proud to announce that the following children will be representing their classes on the School Council:

Year 1 – Evie and Stanley

Year 2 – Nova and Grayson

Year 3 – Gracie and Jack

Year 4 – Claudia and Logan

Year 5 – Gwen and Jack

Year 6– Taya and Isla

Prefects

Each year, pupils in Year 6 are given the opportunity to apply for the role of a Prefect. Following a thorough application process and interview with the Headteachers, if they are successful, they are awarded their special golden tie within a celebration assembly. All prefects are also House Captains in school and act as superior role models / ambassadors for the rest of the school.
Prefects have a number of key responsibilities across the school during the year:

Leading Meet and Greets outside of the school in the morning to welcome our school community

• Leading class lines in from the playground at playtime and lunchtimes
• Attend school open evenings / tours
• Represent the school at any special events / presentations
• Support in whole school and key stage assemblies (sit on chairs)
• Take on House Captain role
• Lead assemblies focusing on life skills, leadership and Fundamental British Values
• Supportively challenge and promote citizenship behaviours across the school at all times

Throughout the year, Prefects attend a series of meetings to devise their own action plans, proactively plan events and attend an annual ‘Student Ambassador’ conference at our Secondary school within our trust. During the conference, guest key-note speakers attend to inspire and encourage our Prefects and they join the Secondary students in taking part in a number of carefully planned aspirational workshops.

Rotary Club connection

It’s been a very busy day! Many thanks to Alan from The Rotary Club who came into meet the School Council today. The Council have chosen to support one of the Rotary’s causes. Our Chairperson, Nimat, Deputy Chairperson, Callum and Personal Assistant, Imogen, will be writing a letter very soon to explain more.
If you are interested in supporting the Rotary they are involved in the Santa Run on Sunday 1st December – pop onto the following website for more details. ❤️🎅

www.northamptonsantarun.org

Hooray for Harvest

Your food donations to Northampton Hope Centre and Weston Favell Food Bank have now been collected. Some of our wonderful School Council helped to load the food into the delivery vehicles. Thank you so much for helping our local community and those in need❤️❤️❤️

Summer Newsletter

Read all about all the fantastic things the School Council have been up to in their Summer Newsletter:

Fruit Salad

We were lucky to have another visit from Jane, who this time brought in lots of different fruits for us to try. Some were familiar to us, some were more exotic and some were, well, quite extraordinary! It was wonderful to see the School Council trying fruits which they had never experienced before. Jane gave us lots of interesting information about the different fruits, and the School Council discussed the options available on the menu. Jane would love to receive more feedback and ideas about how the menu could be adapted to suit the children’s tastes.

Masterchefs!

The School Council welcomed Jane, from Dolce, who provide the school with our hot meals. Their job was to take on the role of a focus group, by informing Jane about their thoughts and opinions about food and the school meals, in general. They discussed their favourite vegetables and meals, as well as, those foods and meals which were less appealing! A super example of teamwork and communication. We will be inviting Jane back to meet the School Council to discuss fruit and desserts.

A busy time already for the School Council

We’re already halfway through our school year, and the School Council have been very busy. They are currently planning lots for the remainder of our school year. Take a look at what they have been up to by reading their Newsletter.

School Council welcomes the Parish Council

Thank you to Councillors Bailey and Cunnington from Cogenhoe and Whiston Parish Council for visiting our School Council today. They explained to the children about the wonderful job our councillors do, all on a voluntary basis. Some super questions were asked by the children at the end of our talk, and they had a clearer understanding of what the councillors do. The children learnt that their roles are very similar. We are all proud to be a part of the Cogenhoe Community. ❤️

Save the Children Christmas Jumper Day

Cogenhoe was full of festive cheer on Christmas Jumper Day, with children also donating money to Save the Children. It was the School Council’s responsibility to count up the final amount raised – a whooping £150. The children displayed great counting skills when completing the task. Well done councillors!

A message from our Chairperson

Issy, our Chairperson, would like to share a valuable message with you all. After she saw the quote, she asked if she could let others know, as she thought that it is important to always make the right choices and be that ‘nice’ child or adult. Thank you Issy.

Road Safety Week

A fabulous start to our Road Safety Week – our Road Safety Heroes held a whole school assembly. Their focus was #BikeSmart & the ‘Green Cross Code’. They also announced a Design a Cycle Helmet competition 🚲🚴‍♀️Thank you Brake for helping to educate our children about Road Safety.

There’s nothing odd about ‘Odd Sock Day’

As a part of Anti-Bullying Week, Cogenhoe’s socks and tights were a sight to be seen. Children were encouraged to wear odd or brightly coloured socks and tights to promote the message that we are: All different and all equal. Linked to this year’s theme of ‘Choose Respect’ , the children have learnt about the different forms of bullying, what to do if it happens and what the signs are. School Council have been busy designing an Anti-Bullying leaflet. Please take a look at their work.

A busy time for the School Council

We’ve had a busy couple of weeks as the School Council, with all of our councillors being keen to get stuck in. Some of our councillors visited Abbey Primary School to look at their playground, which has given them lots of ideas as to how we can transform our own playground. They have also helped to collect all of the food donations for the Hope Centre – which has been a huge success again. The School Council would like to extend their thanks for the wonderfully generous donations. Issy greeted Tanya, from the Hope Centre, when she visited the school to collect the donations. Members of the School Council are also going to be guides and ambassadors during our school Open Days and Evenings.

They have also started to plan events for next term. Our secretaries have written a letter, which will be emailed to parents after Half Term, about Odd Sock Day. Odd Sock Day will be on 14th November, and is to raise awareness of Anti-Bullying Week: Choose Respect. More photos and information to follow.

Celebration Tree

Miriam, Chairperson, helped Mrs Reeve on their visit to Billing Garden Centre, to choose a ‘Celebration Tree’. The School Council had the idea to purchase a tree to celebrate the success of our outgoing Year 6 children, so that they leave their mark at Cogenhoe. Due to the extremely hot and dry conditions, it is not suitable to plant a tree currently; however we are hoping to plant the tree in September/October. We hope you’ll agree, Miriam made an excellent choice – it’s an Acer Brilliantissimum!

Wellingborough Council welcomes Cogenhoe School Council

The School Council had the privilege of meeting the Mayor and Mayoress of the Borough of Wellingborough and other Council officials. They were welcomed into the Chambers, and learnt about the Mace and other official duties. Having learnt about the Wellingborough coat of arms and motto, we now as a council need to investigate our own.

Crazy Hair Day

Cogenhoe has gone crazy! The School Council organised Crazy Hair Day to help raise money for the charity CLIC Sargent. They were then responsible for counting the money to see how much was finally raised. The total currently stands at £150. Many thanks to Mrs McCarlie for helping the School Council.

Look out around Cogenhoe for our Road Safety posters!

A beautiful morning in Cogenhoe today, so our Road Safety Heroes delivered and displayed Road Safety posters around the village. They are dotted all around the village in different locations. Our Road Safety Heroes represented the school brilliantly.

Welcome to our new Road Safety Heroes.

Many thanks to Keith Millard of the Northamptonshire Highways – Road Safety Heroes team, who came to present our new Heroes with their team packs. During the assembly, Keith and Mrs Reeve discussed future plans for the team and how the children and their families can stay safe.

Congratulations to our new team:

Congratulations to our Road Safety poster competition winners, who we also announced today. With the permission of Cogenhoe Parish Council, the Road Safety Heroes will be displaying the winning posters around Cogenhoe.

Health & Well-Being

To start off Health and Well-being Week Tessa Parkinson came in to meet the School Councillors as part of her ‘Challenge Tessa’ programme, where she is going to as many schools in Northampton as she can during Mental Health Week to raise awareness. We had to stamp her jumpsuit with our school stamp! We have also held a coffee morning for the community to be able to come together for a cuppa and a chat!

Road Safety Heroes

We have launched our Road Safety Heroes Campaign and are eagerly awaiting to see who they will be!

A Big Thank you! 

Cogenhoe Primary School MacMillan Coffee Morning

On Friday 21^st October, Cogenhoe Primary School hosted a coffee morning to raise money for MacMillan. Parents, teachers and School Councillors all stepped in to help raise money. All the delicious cakes that were sold were donated by the parents, carers and children of the school. Thanks to them everyone had a wide and extensive range of delicious goodies to choose from such as; banana cakes, fairy cakes, chocolate cakes and many others. Furthermore, to create the school hall into such a welcoming and enjoyable place bunting, banners, balloons, inflatables and table cloths were all used. The coffee morning turned out to be a great success thanks to everyone at Cogenhoe Primary School £236 was raised!

Written by Evie