The last month has been very busy as students throughout the school decided to run for Student Council. The process gives students a chance to reflect on what is important to them and the importance of being a changemaker and standing up for what they think is right.
Kate a 3rd class Student Council member says
“I decided I wanted to run for Student Council not just because I wanted my voice to be heard but because I wanted everyone’s voice to be heard. In the application it asked what you thought a Student Council is and I said I think it’s a voice or chance for people to find out about what’s going on in their classroom and how it’s affecting them. I remembered that in the past people had talked about a Buddy Bench and my big idea is to set that up as not everyone has a best friend and sometimes they might feel a little bit lonely on their own.”
Isaac 4th class Student Council member added
“I wanted to be on Student Council because there are problems like people being left out and upset after school. I wanted to be an upstander and stand up for them. It was different filling out the form this year but in one way it was still the same. You had to think more about why you wanted to do it, when filling out the form some people realised they didn’t really want to do it. The speeches and voting was done in the same way but the ideas were better, people really wanted to talk about them.”
The process was very interesting for different students.
In 1st class, there was great enthusiasm for their first election. Many students put their names forward and showed real thoughtfulness about how they could help and support others. 2nd class had a wide range of creative ideas, with a strong focus on how to improve the school pond.
3rd class had a student express interest after the deadline, but they showed maturity and understanding about the process, choosing instead to support their classmates. 4th class explored proportional representation using post-its, imagining how a single vote could move through the count depending on preferences.
5th class had ballots printed and ready, but also experienced a moment of real-life politics when a candidate decided to step back from the race — leading to good discussions about how elections can change unexpectedly. 6th class took a broader view, thinking about children across Ireland. Their reflections included the importance of inclusion, the needs of children with disabilities, and those facing homelessness.
Each class approached the election in their own way, with curiosity, care, and a strong sense of fairness.
Xavier F in 4th class while running for Student Council reflected
“Tomorrow is voting for the Student Council (I’m in it too!) The Student Council is where every year children in every class vote for who wants to help the school to be a safer place and help other children voices to be heard and their ideas The people trying to get on have to do speeches in front of the class (for me it’s quite scary) This year it’s changed we have to get 3 signatures from someone in the school and you have to write why you want to go on the Student Council two people get picked every year (usually) So get ready to vote tomorrow! “
Cían a 4th class Student Council member thought
“I like how Student Council is like real elections for presidents. Proportional Representation means that everyone gets a ballot and the names are in alphabetical order and they put down a number beside them of who you want to win (first to worst). Then your vote is able to be transferred so that your vote means something all the way into the final cut. I think it’s fair, people said you could pick names out of a hat but that’s not really the point. The point of it is that people need to be able to share ideas and the ideas are great then people will pick them, if it was just out of a hat people might get in who haven’t got good ideas.”
