Pupil Voice

At Forres Academy there are a number of opportunities to get involved in whole school improvement planning. We believe in giving young people a voice. We agree with UNCRC Article 12 that states “Children have the right to give their opinions freely on issues that affect them. Adults should listen and take children seriously.” All pupils involved in a leadership activity are encouraged to apply for their Saltire award.

At Forres Academy you can participate in the following pupil voice groups:

·         Our Student Network
We meet twice a term to discuss a range of whole school topics that are on our whole school strategic school improvement plan. We have 2 representatives from every registration class in the school who attend our student network meetings. Our most recent meeting was at the beginning of September 2026 where we had sessions on the introduction of morning registration, learning and teaching, learner conversations, school safety and other HGIOURS items.  It is the role of out student representatives to feedback pupil voice matters through registration, collate their wider peers’ view and then feed this back to future sessions.

·         Rights Respecting Schools Ambassadors.
Our Rights ambassadors meet twice a term for a UNCRC conference to work on our Silver Action plan as we are hoping to become a UNICEF accredited school. Pupils have been involved in embedding rights into lessons, classes such as the UPS programme, mini inserts into morning registration, assemblies, events and more. If you are interested in joining our steering group please contact Mrs Muluzi. At least one member also joins out student network.

·         LGBTQ+ Ambassadors – Pride of Forres Academy (POFA).
Our pride of Forres Group are supported by Moray pride colleagues and meet regularly in school to discuss themes and plan for important awareness days such as “Purple Friday”. We have members also attend the student network.

·         Elite Tutors.
Our elite tutors are a cohort of S6 pupils who work closely with Miss Ross the PT of Raising Attainment to build in mentoring and tutoring opportunities for pupils requiring support across a variety of subjects.

·         Sports Ambassadors.
Meet termly with Active Schools to plan sporting partnership events across our ASG.

·         SCQF Ambassadors:
They meet twice termly to promote the SCQF framework and the many learner journeys in our school.

·         The Mentors in Violence Prevention (MVP) ambassadors are trained peer mentors that challenge attitudes, beliefs and cultural norms that underpin gender-based violence, bullying and other forms of violence in our local community. They lead on lesson materials, lead assemblies and plan events across the wider school to raise awareness of this programme.

·         Military Ambassadors:
Meet weekly at a drop in club with Katie to promote ongoing partnerships in our local community and to support our own military experienced pupils. Katie supports pupils 1-1 and in small groups in her role as well as families moving to the area. There are always fun events planned to celebrate military life and to raise awareness of the challenges. Military ambassadors also have plans for diversity days such as “Fiji Day” in October 2026 as we have had a new cohort of pupils join us from Fiji recently and we are keen for them to feel included and supported. 

·       Wellbeing Ambassadors:

      We have a dedicated group of staff and pupils who have created a whole school wellbeing strategy and survey. All pupils are given opportunities to complete this survey throughout the year and the data is shared and used by all teachers to target supports in different ways. This working group meet regularly to work on their action plan and to update displays around the school, and design various inputs for classes and assemblies. 

·         S6 Committees:
All of S6 have a dedicated Leadership period on their timetable where they have formed a number of committees to contribute positively to the wider life of the school. Examples include: Year book, Interhouse, Charities, and Events, Trasition planning and more. S6 have a dedicated period on their timetable where they “give back” and plan various projects. They all have strategic action plans they have written that they work on as a year group in these committees.

·         Prefects:
Our S5 and S6 pupils have the opportunity to apply for the role as prefect. This role involves working with staff to arrange events, give tours of our school, help monitor social areas and corridors as well as meet and greet parents, carers and partners. They also help with whole school events such as martialling on sponsored walks and helping to plan and organise key calendar evenings in school such as P7 Visits and Parents Nights.

·         Senior Prefects:
S6 pupils can apply for the role of senior prefect. We have 6 senior prefects who help lead and manage the wider prefect team, as well as help mentor and provide training for this team.

·         House Captains:
We have 5 houses at Forres Academy: Cluny, Dava, Nelson, Romach and Sueno. 

      We have 2 house captains per house who are tasked with creating fun Interhouse competitions, and hosting end of term celebrating success assemblies. Pupils visit registration classes to promote house ethos and to capture successes and achievements that can be celebrated in house assemblies.

· Year Group Ambassadors:
Each year group has a small dedicated group of ambassadors who meet with their year heads termly to discuss themes that are important to their age and stage. For example, S1s will meet their year head in term 1 to discuss and review the transition process, whereas s6 themes are more concerned with leadership and pathway planning as they approach their end of school careers. 

· Year Group Ambassadors:

      Based on pupil voice activities we will be establishing subject ambassadors where each department has their own dedicated group of pupils to help undertake pupil voice activities, and update key display areas in our department areas. They will work closely with Principal Teachers and teaching staff on department themed priorities and improvement plans.