Student Campaigners:

ESSA Council - let's talk about s*x!

At the ESSA Student Voice Conference last year the ESSA Council launched their campaign to change the face of SRE in England.

ESSA Executive Council SRE Education Campaign Manifesto

• ESSA believes all schools in the state sector including faith schools should adopt a set national curriculum for SRE
• ESSA encourages all schools not bound to the national curriculum to adopt this programme as well
• ESSA believes this curriculum should include education on family and relationships, including those of an LGTB nature
• ESSA believes that this curriculum should include a strong element of peer mentoring or education as we believe that young people (who are appropriately trained and prepared) are best equipped to teach one another about SRE.

If you want to find out more about the campaign or get involved, email support@studentvoice.co.uk.

Kim Snape - campaign to have GCSE option choices

ESSA member Kim Snape is campaigning to stop local authorities from denying students their rights by limiting their GCSE options unfarily.

Kim has taken her case to Tony Blair, local MP David Borrow, and Lord Andrew Adonis (Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Schools)

Kim says: "I think this is something that matters to every student who takes their options whether their entitled to study a subject or not. It needs to be publicised more so students and parents all over the country know their rights for options at GCSE. Let's face it everyone knows someone who couldn't take something they wanted at school for their GCSES. My tip is just don't take no for answer - what have you got to lose?"

Read her story here:

http://www.leyland-guardian.co.uk/leyland-news?articleid=2969130 http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/6225796.stm

‘Edge Instead' - the refreshing alternative to Ofsted!

Students with the Edge Learner Forum have set up a campaign to review their own school in an Ofsted style inspection, 17 year old Samia Meah explains

I'm Samia Meah and I'm a member of the Edge Learner Forum. Our project 'Edge Instead' is a campaign to give students the opportunity to review their own school!

Through our campaign we are trying to help the school identify areas of improvement and then work with the school to achieve them. We consider this to be a great way to improve and prepare the school before actual inspections take place. We want to provide an honest view from a student perspective on the schools progress and to increase student participation in school life. We believe it will have a positive impact and improve the relationships between students and teachers.

We will be using lesson observations and on-the-spot interviews with individual students in different parts of the school. We will also set up a 'diary room' for students to give feedback in private. We will carry out interview conversations and workshops with members of staff and we will use student-run workshops with mixed students without the presence of school staff. We believe all our methods will create a pressure-free environment for both teachers and students to give their honest opinions about their school.

If there are other young campaigners who are starting their own campaign, I have a few words of wisdom for you. To have a strong team voice is crucial. If you are able to work together as a strong team, if your members have the ability to be open minded and accept the perspectives of others then you will have something that will be hard to ignore. Developing a strong united voice is your starting point, your foundation. Then you should work towards being constructive and professional. What I mean by that is, not only just being able to point out the problems but also providing solutions as well. That is how you get people to take you seriously because it shows you can take action and materialise things instead of just generating theories. Good luck!

If you want to know more about this campaign or the Edge Learner Forum please contact us at Learner-forum@edge.co.uk