Pupil Voice on Governors Council

On Monday 21st September our Head Boy (Will Telling) and Head Girl (Ayanna Davis) joined the first Governing Council meeting of this academic year.

This was the first time in Forest’s history that pupils of the school had attended such a meeting.

Forest’s Governing Council is responsible for the wellbeing of the School in its broadest sense. They oversee its financial stability, endorse its strategic development and ensure that its aims, ethos and educational excellence are supported and maintained.

Ayanna and Will’s primary responsibility for representation at the meeting was to share their ideas and ambitions for the recently formed Diversity and Inclusion Committee.

This is what Ayanna and Will had to say about the meeting….

‘Being able to join the Governor’s meeting was really exciting, and as the Head Girl and Head Boy have never been involved in such meetings, it was great to see the council engage with us, as pupil voice is key to help set the school’s aims and objectives in order for it to develop and improve. I enjoyed discussing the school’s responsibility to increase its understanding of the word diversity, as it needs serious re-evaluation. I wanted to stress that diversity and inclusivity should also be discussed within the prep school, as the future is heavily reliant on the young generation. We need to maintain the momentum initiated in recent months and ensure that we are using all platforms to keep the conversation going, and for many years to come.’ (Ayanna)

‘Meeting the Governors provided us with the fantastic opportunity to convey our primary concerns and thoughts about diversity within the school community. I was particularly keen to emphasise the need to interrogate the word “diversity” and redefine the social ‘norm’, to include and represent minority groups, in a way which avoids tokenism. I was extremely pleased with the reception to an idea to further explore the avenues in which Forest can be made more accessible for socio-economically disadvantaged students. This is because, in order to be a wholly inclusive environment, Forest students must be actively engaging with a variety of cultures and economic backgrounds at school, so diversity can become less of a ‘strategic plan’ and more a way of normalised thinking and acting.’ (Will)