A Student Council is a representative structure for students only, through which they can become involved in the affairs of the school, working in partnership with school management, staff and parents for the benefit of the school and its students.

A Student Council is a representative structure for all the students in the school. It provides students with the opportunity to become involved in the affairs of the school, working in partnership with school management, staff and parents. It should always work for the benefit of the school and its students.

• Working with the staff, Board of Management and Parents Association in the school;
• Communicating and consulting with all of the students in the school; – Involving as many students as possible in the activities of the Council;
• Planning and managing the Council’s programme of activities for the year;
• Managing and accounting to the student council and Board of Management, for any funds raised by the Council.

• Liaising with the Principal and Board of Management on issues of concern to students;
• Communication and co-operation with school staff;
• Working with Parents Council in school;
• Co-operating with management and staff on the development of school rules and regulations;
• Be involved in developing the curriculum in your school;
• Involvement in School Planning;
• Having a say in school policies e.g. anti-bullying policy;
• Making suggestions about improving school facilities;
• Extra-curricular activities;
• School newsletter/magazine;
• Links with other schools;
• Getting involved with the community;
• Mentoring programmes for younger students;
• Student Award ceremonies.

There are many more activities which a Student Council can be involved in. The Student Council should listen to the views of the students in the school when drawing up its calendar of activities.

1. A board shall establish and maintain procedures for the purposes of informing students in a school of the activities of the school.
2. The procedures established and maintained under subsection (1) shall facilitate the involvement of the students in the operation of the school, having regard to the age and experience of the students, in association with their parents and teachers.
3. Students of a post-primary school may establish a student council and, without prejudice to the generality of subsection (1), a board of a post-primary school shall encourage the establishment by students of a student council and shall facilitate and give all reasonable assistance to
   • Students who wish to establish a student council, and
   • Student councils when they have been established.
4. A student council shall promote the interests of the school and the involvement of students in the affairs of the school, in co-operation with the board, parents and teachers.
5. The rules for the establishment of a students council shall be drawn up by the board, in accordance with such guidelines as may be issued by the Minister from time to time, and such rules may provide for the election of members and the dissolution of a student council.
6. A student council, following consultation with the board, may make rules governing its meetings and the business and conduct of its affairs.

‘This is the first time that second-level students are equal participants in a government working group, as part of the National Children’s Strategy, which commits to giving children a voice in matters that affect their lives’ declared Brian Lenihan, TD Minister for Children. ‘Student Councils are good for students and schools and are provided for in the 1998 Education Act. They are a means of giving students a voice in school’ he continued. The Minister was speaking at the launch of a leaflet, poster and website developed by the Student Council Working Group.

The Student Council Working Group was set up in June 2003 and is chaired by the National Children’s Office (NCO), with the support of the Department of Education and Science, to promote democratic student councils in second level schools. Eleven second-level students, aged 13 – 17 are members of this group, working equally with teachers unions, school management bodies, government departments and parent organisations. These students were nominated through Comhairle na nOg throughout the country and the Union of Secondary Students (USS).

• Inform students and teachers that the 1998 Education Act includes the right to set up democratic students councils;
• Give advice about how to set up student councils and
• Give students and teachers helpful contacts.

• Carry out research on student councils;
• Identify barriers to the establishment of student councils;
• Identify the measures to encourage the establishment of student councils;
• Make recommendations about the training needs and resource materials required by students and education partners;
• Manage the development and production of these resource/training materials and promote and publicise student councils and
• Devise a three year strategy to support the establishment and development of student councils.