School Council Met Our Newest Governor

11th November 2025a hayward

On Friday 24th October, the School Council met BHJS’s newest governor, Mrs Armstrong and we asked her some questions. We really enjoyed getting to know her and we hope you do too!

Kane: Are you proud that you have become a governor?

Yes, I want to make a big difference because I really care.

Darcy: Are you enjoying being a governor so far?

I am very new and I have only done 2 meetings but I am liking it so far. My favourite bit has been chatting with the school council.

Leah: Do you feel nervous when you talk to crowds of people?

Yes, I feel nervous, I’m actually nervous now talking to you! I have to give presentations in my job and I get butterflies and a dry mouth but I manage it by taking deep breaths. Also, if you stand with your hand on your hips in a superhero pose, it makes you feel (and look) confident.

Holly: Why did you want to be a governor for THIS school?
I was told that there was a vacancy and when I looked at your school, I realized that you were the best school for me. The children are great and I think that we’ll get on well together.

Jade: What is your other job?

I work for the council in an area called Public Health. This is linked with health-related things but before you go to the doctors – it’s about keeping people healthy so they don’t get ill and need to go to the doctors – it’s called preventative health promotion. For example, helping adults stop smoking, or to advertise getting the flu jab for those people who need it.

Bobby: What’s your favourite colour?

Pink – everything I own is pink; I love it! But, I do also

like green as it is a calm colour linked to nature and that makes me feel happy.

Riley: What’s your favourite animal?

A giraffe – I know it’s a bit random, but they are majestic and cool and I love the fact that they have purple tongues!

Amelia: Do you have any hobbies?

I enjoy going to the gym because it makes me happy and I like to stay active. I also like to read, crochet little teddies and build with Lego.

Bobby: Do you have a favourite type of dog?

I don’t – I’m a cat person. I love cats. I have a ginger cat called Gizmo.

Kane: Do you have a favourite place that you like to go?

My favourite place in the whole world is my bed!

Lily: Where is your favourite place to go on holiday?

Tunisia in North Africa is an amazing place. The people are so lovely and I have made some lovely friends there. It’s really hot, and although I don’t really like the heat, I love it there. The food is fantastic, too!

Holly: What’s your favourite fruit?

Again, quite unusual, but I love persimmons. They are crossed between a peach and orange and an apple – they’re delicious.

Leah: Where’s the best place you’ve ever given a speech or presentations.

I give lots of speeches and presentations. I used to be a children’s nurse and a school nurse and I used to go into schools and deliver assemblies on healthy living for all of the children – those were my favourite.

On Friday 19th September, Emma Lewell (The Labour MP for South Shields), visited our school and met with our newly elected School Council.

25th September 2025S Admin (Biddick Hall Juniors)

On Friday 19th September, Emma Lewell (The Labour MP for South Shields), visited our school and met with our newly elected School Council. She told the children about her job and why she enjoyed it – getting to meet people from South Shields (including children) was one of the top things.  She said that she liked to ask people if they were happy with the job she was doing and if not, what changes they would like to see. Our School Council are going to be doing this within school, making sure that all of the children in their classes get to make suggestions for improvements to our school. Emma told us that she was elected in 2013 at the age of 35 and before becoming a member of parliament, she has many other jobs including cleaning, working in restaurants, answering phones in call centres and as a social worker. The children had the chance to share with Emma some suggestions that they thought would improve South Shields, including children 11 and under being able to travel free on buses and for things to be a bit cheaper for people to buy.

Our School Council are looking forward to getting started on making a difference to Biddick Hall Junior School 2025-26!

 

16th December 2024S Admin (Biddick Hall Juniors)

School Council have been very busy in the Autumn term!  Our amazing members: Logan, Hannah, Gracie, Alfie, Aariarna, Kara, Lilly, Ella and Joey were elected by their classes and we got straight on with important business!  The children started by writing and typing their own biographies to introduce themselves to the rest of the school – these are proudly displayed in the hall.

One of the key jobs performed by the School Council is leading our Biddick Beliefs in assembly. The children stand in assembly on a Monday and Friday morning and take turns to read out our Biddick Beliefs which help us to learn and understand the British Values. They do this excellently and each week they are getting a bit louder and more confident.

We award Pupil of the Week certificates in assembly on a Friday morning, and this term, the School Council spent several weeks making new and improved ones.  These are now being used by the rest of the school alongside the original ones.

Attendance is so important, and at Biddick Hall Junior School we want our children to come to school every day. To help with this, Mrs Collinson is starting a new initiative where coming to school will win you prizes! The School Council were asked to discuss what they thought would be good incentives for children to attend school more regularly and they came up with some brilliant ideas which Mrs Collinson took on board when designing our new attendance initiative.

Another thing the School Council are responsible for are House Points.  We found that teachers were running out and having to send to the office for extras as not all classes had equal amounts. They discovered we were short on green house points, so Mrs Collinson has new house points on order. Each week the School Council starts each meeting by re-stocking class house points and this is working much better with classes now have enough for the week.

During Parliament Week, the children took part in an afternoon of activities where they learned about the role of parliament.  To show democracy in action, the School Council decided to hold a vote to see what we should do on the last day of term before Christmas. The overwhelming consensus from all classes was to hold a toy day!

Finally, the School Council worked together with Mrs Rennie to create a Christmas Quiz for the children to take part in on the last day of term.  The School Council members are going to be the quiz masters and deliver the quiz!

Mrs Rennie, who works with the School Council, is extremely proud of the children and she has been very impressed with their dedication, creativity and contributions. Logan, Hannah, Gracie, Alfie, Aariarna, Kara, Lilly, Ella and Joey are looking forward to having just as big an impact in the Spring Term.

 

School and Science Council have been teaming up to help create an improved and cleaner environment around out school.

27th February 2024S Admin (Biddick Hall Juniors)

School and Science Council have been teaming up to help create an improved and cleaner environment around out school. Using litter pickers and black bags so far years 5 and 6 have joined forces to collect discarded litter. We were certainly surprised by how much litter was caught in bushes and hedges and found all sorts ranging from crisp packets, to cigarette boxes, plastic bags to pop cans. Next week years 3 and 4 will help the anti-litter campaign around the school premises.

School Council’s Message

22nd May 2023a hayward

LITTERING
This week, Shay and Abbie spoke in assembly about littering. They told the school
that…

  •  Researchers estimate that over one million animals die each year after becoming
    trapped in, or eating litter.
  • The most common killer of animals is plastic litter, notably impacting marine
    animals. Each year more than 100,000 dolphins, fish, whales, and turtles drown after
    becoming entangled or eating plastic.
  • Litter can become a breeding ground for bacteria and can spread disease through
    direct or indirect contact with humans. It can also attract creatures such as rats.
  • As well as this, litter on the ground makes our local area look horrible. We should all
    have pride in where we live and it is part of our responsibility to look after our
    community and not litter.

We hope that this message will make everyone think a little bit more carefully about what
they do with their litter. If we all work together, we can make the world a better place!

 

Our Global Community

4th May 2023a hayward

This year, the school Council have looked at our school community and our
local community. This term, the School Council are focusing on our global
community. In our meeting, we generated ideas for how we think that we can
become better global citizens.

Some of our ideas were: stop littering, save water, stop using fossil fuels,
reducing our carbon footprint, stopping sea pollution, saving electricity, being
kind and celebrating diversity and including others no matter their differences.

Each week in our meetings, we are going to pick one of our ideas and research
it so we can write a message for the rest of the school on how they can be
better global citizens. We will deliver our message in assembly on a Friday.

What is our theme this term?

16th March 2023a hayward

Over the past few weeks in assembly, the School Council have been looking closely at the British Values and what they mean. They have researched and presented their findings on ‘Democracy’ and ‘The Rule of Law’ to the rest of the school. This week, the School Council addressed the whole school in assembly to focus in on another one of the British Values. They talked about Individual Liberty and what it means. This is what they said…

‘Individual liberty means each of us having the freedom to make our own choices and do what we want, within reason. We must respect the other British values and the rights of others, then we are free to pursue our ambitions, and follow our own will.’

‘Our individual liberty gives us great freedom to be independent and express ourselves. In Britain, we can follow the religion we want to and love who we want to. We can choose what we want to wear and we have the right to say what we think, although we need to do this with respect to everyone. Living with this freedom allows us to live in peace and learn from one another.’

‘Although we have freedom, we don’t have freedom to do whatever you want – there are rules that help everyone to get along. You can’t help yourself to other people’s things and you are not free to go onto private property without the permission of the owner.’

Next week, they are going to zoom in on ‘Mutual Respect and Tolerance’. The children discussed the topic, researched it and are going to share the following in assembly.

‘Basically, Mutual Respect and Tolerance means respecting the values, ideas, and beliefs of other people whilst not forcing them to believe in the same things that we do.’

‘We can show Mutual Respect and Tolerance by embracing diversity and celebrating it. We can promote awareness of different religions, traditions, cultural heritages and preferences and we can tackle stereotypical, labelling, prejudice and discrimination.’

‘It is important to have mutual respect and tolerance because it is the foundation of being a good member of society, and mutual respect underpins good relationships.’

‘To have respect for a person involves a fundamental belief in their right to exist, to be heard, and to have the same opportunities as everyone else.’

School Council 2022 – 2023

16th March 2023a hayward

School Council 2022-2023

Spring Term

The School Council have been busy this ½ term focusing on engaging with and supporting our local community.

We thought of several ideas linked to how we could help our local community and we decided on litter picking during the 1st half term. Litter is something that damages the planet and can hurt nature and it is something we thought of as an issue in Biddick Hall. We have been out on a Monday lunchtime with our yellow litter pickers tidying up the school grounds and the area around our school grounds.  We made sure that we used the litter pickers to pick up the rubbish and we washed our hands thoroughly afterwards. We also wore hi-vis vests to make sure we were visible to the public -especially road users – when we were off the school grounds.

 

In the next half term, we are going to help to organise an Easter Fair to engage with our local community which we are very excited about! We hope lots of our family members, neighbours and friends of the school will be able to come and enjoy the fair.