To promote our No Outsiders ethos across Fairlands, the School Council decided to run a competition, where children were invited to create a piece of writing about what No Outsiders means to them. We had so many fantastic entries and it was amazing to see what wonderfully inclusive and accepting ideas were presented. A huge well done to all who entered and especially to the winners in each class who will have received a special certificate in assembly and shared their work.

Fairlands school council were invited to take part in the Stevenage schools Parliament at Danstrete House. Our year 6 representatives got to sit in the council chambers and put forward our ideas to improve life in Stevenage. 

Each school was given time to share their ideas and thoughts on how they could be achieved. Our initiatives focused on the environment, we suggested that the community comes together to litter pick and plant trees to make Stevenage cleaner and greener. We also shared our concern for the homeless community and suggested ways in which money could be raised to provide a space available 24/7 for those without a home to go. 

Many of the other schools also shared concerns about the local environment and the feeling of belonging in Stevenage so we worked together to create one action plan. The chair of the Stevenage Education Trust is going to propose our ideas to the chair so next time we can work on a way to create a big 'get together' where children feel safe and can join in with a community project. We're really excited for it already! 

"This was a once in a lifetime opportunity! I was nervous and overwhelmed but it was exciting to share my ideas and know everyone was considering them." - A

"I hope our vision comes to life and can be shared amongst the Stevenage community." - R

"Everyone's ideas were great and we were all happy with our final decisions and next steps." - M

Our School Council met again last week to discuss what the children at Fairlands would like to see in terms of extra curricular clubs in school. There were a wide range of suggestions, and staff are going to look into how we can offer the children at our school more of the clubs that they have suggested. We also talked about our No Outsiders approach at Fairlands, where we are working to create an ethos where everyone is welcome and feels like they belong at our school. The School Council members were able to think of some great ideas about how we can embed this message across the school and have gone back to their classes to collect more ideas to feed back to staff.