Parliament
The Franklin School Parliament was established in 2022 to align with our school vision: That our students will be confident and involved learners who have a strong sense of identity and wellbeing.
This has been an exciting program for our school leaders, and resulted in whole-school changes and initiatives. The school parliament is responsible for introducing a worm farm program, Market Day, fundraising events, competitions, new rules/expectations, and better access to technology at the school. It participates in annual student congress meetings with the Education Directorate and is responsible for strengthening the sense of community and identity at Franklin through the year 6 students’ liaison with other year levels.
The four main objectives of our school parliament are:
- To provide an opportunity for all students to be involved in school governance and decision making.
- To ensure all students experience the importance of representation and how through active involvement in the school community they can bring about change.
- To provide a meaningful forum for student voice: a place for the presentation of ideas and opinions on school policies that directly impact students.
- To allow students to improve the school community by addressing student issues and concerns.
The parliament is made up of electorate representatives and ministers. Electorate representatives take responsibility for specific classes (‘electorates’) in the school. They work hard to get to know their electorate division and its priorities, so that they can advocate for them in parliamentary sittings.
Ministers are members of the Franklin Parliament who are given an area of responsibility within the school. Some examples of minister departments at Franklin are environment, fundraising & finance, education, PBL, sport, and health & wellbeing. These ministers work collaboratively on portfolios to identify current issues affecting their department, and develop solutions to make improvements for the school.