In our school pupils are accorded rights and responsibilities of democratic citizenship; students and teachers vote at whole school meetings on the rules that affect them, and serve on different committees to make decisions on various aspects of the running of Atelier 21. These decisions range from which sports to put on the curriculum next term, to which new behaviour rules we need as a community, to which student enterprise ideas will be granted loans from the school bank for example.
What better training than this to prepare students for democratic citizenship? When agreements are not adhered to students can make use of the peer mediation system during class reflection meetings. If this does not resolve the problem, teachers will provide additional support. Ultimately an ambassador tribunal will be held, supported by a member of the senior leadership team, if rules are consistently broken.
