St Mary's Senior School hosts Cambridgeshire Student Forum

In November, St Mary's Senior School hosted Summit One of the Cambridge Student Forum. The day saw over 40 students from 7 Cambridgeshire based schools and colleges discuss Youth voice and the importance of this in the school environment. The day offered a great opportunity for students to consider how their school's support student voice and what they can do within this environment, all whilst offering the opportunity to meet students from a range of backgrounds.

The Cambridge Student Forum's recent visit to St Mary's School Cambridge proved to be an invaluable experience for students, offering a unique opportunity to explore innovative approaches to student voice and leadership. During the forum, pupils from various schools shared their experiences, strategies, and successful initiatives that have empowered students to make meaningful contributions to their school communities. The day started with students considering what they wanted to achieve on the day, and moving forward, and how they can work collaboratively across their schools to benefit the community. Students from each school then gave a presentation on how student voice works within their institution, explaining what changes have been made as a result of the student's input or influence. The students then started to work in action groups across their schools to tackle issues which they feel strongly about, in this case they decided on transport and welfare; climate action; equality, diversity and inclusion and health and well-being.

St Mary's students were particularly inspired by the diverse ways other schools, such as CAST (Cambridge Academy for Science and Technology), engage students in decision-making processes, from fundraising committees to environmental initiatives. The event not only showcased St Mary's commitment to listening to student perspectives but also highlighted the school's already robust student voice mechanisms. Participants left the forum with renewed enthusiasm, armed with fresh ideas about collaboration, community engagement, and the potential for students to drive positive change within their educational environment.

Connie M. (Year 12) described the day as incredibly helpful as it 'allowed [her] to pick up ideas of how other schools listen to student voice and how we can help to make positive change' at St Mary's. The day highlighted to her the emphasis placed onto student voice within the St Mary's community. She stated,

I realised that St Mary's has such a wide range of ways to encourage the school to listen to the students directly, and how much the all-girls environment at St Mary's really encourages and allows for this.  

Connie now has 'countless ideas to bring to the school that [she] would have never thought of' and has felt encouraged to talk to students about issues within the student body, and the wider world about how they could bring forward positive change.  

Students from St Mary's will continue to attend the Cambridge Student Forum. Next will be executive nominations and voting for chairpersons and group leaders who will receive leadership training in order to proceed with their groups. This will be followed by Action Group meetings where the groups formally meet to discuss an action plan. There will be a second summit in February with activities, workshops, discussions, and guest speakers. All of this work culminates in a Student Voice Celebration Day in June, where all students come together to celebrate all they have achieved over the year.