Golden Valley House Groups

At GV, every child and every member of staff belongs to one of four Houses - Scotch Horn (Yellow), Trendlewood (Green), Glassblowers (Blue) or Colliers (Red). Each House Group is named after a region in Nailsea or a traditional industry in the area.

Belonging to a House is a very important aspect of being part of our school. Pupils are placed in one of 12 groups (3 per House) to engage in activities with others from across the school. This provides opportunities to enhance the sense of belonging to a house and for pupils to develop their self-confidence and social skills... as well as having a lot of fun too!

At Sports Day for both Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2, pupils participate in races and events as house teams. KS2 pupils also take part in intramural matches throughout the year. 

House Leaders are responsible for collecting their weekly house point scores and showing visitors around the school. House Leaders undertake this responsibility for two terms; a new set of House Leaders are selected at Christmas for Terms 3 & 4, and at Easter for Terms 5 & 6.

The school also has four Year 6 pupils who have been chosen as Ambassadors for the school. These four pupils work hard to undertake a range of duties, including showing visitors around the school, taking part in staff interviews etc.

Ambassadors and School Council Representatives for 2023-24

New School Council Representatives have been elected democratically by their peers. They meet weekly with Mrs Dean where they make suggestions for how to improve the school, as well as planning events and activities for the school and local community. 

Year 3: James, Scarlett, Abi and Jacob

Year 4: Ellie, Arthur, Dominic and Efa

Year 5: Billy, William, Austin and Ellie

Year 6: Sam, Kayla, Layla and Josh

Year 6 Ambassadors: Wilf, Annabelle, Alfie and Livia

The Year 6 Ambassadors also work with Mrs Dean and the School Council. They were chosen by staff to represent the school and have been selected for their effort, attitude and strong values.

School Council representatives were elected by their classmates after giving campaign speeches.  All candidates needed to speak eloquently and give reasons as to why they would be good representatives for their class.  

School Council members report back to their own classes and also to KS1 classes and bring ideas for future events to meetings.  It is also a forum to allow children to bring up points for discussion, for example "could we have a lunchtime homework club?" and "how can we improve our learning environment?"  All ideas are discussed and passed to Mr Riordan and as many as possible are actioned.  Previous successes include choosing a Buddy Bench to put on the playground as a place for children to go if they cannot find a friend to play with. School Council members will then help the children to find some friends or organise a game with them. 

Last year, Year 6 School Councillors planned a lovely event for families to participate in over the Christmas period. They wrote to families and encouraged them to produce a colourful window display; they produced a map for families to follow to find the displays. The 'Window Wanderland' was promoted to the whole local community via Nailsea People and the displays were super! 

Our School Council have helped the staff to make lunchtimes and breaktimes happier for all children and have worked to invovle our school in community events.