Starting Early showcases the advantages of introducing school councils at nursery and infant level. Featuring Farnborough Grange Infant and Nursery School, the programme covers the setting up of the scheme, how it works, what the problems are, how the school has overcome them, the effect the scheme has had on the pupils and, of course, actuality of the council at work. All 220 pupils aged between 3 and 7 at Farnborough Grange play their part in the running of the school, which was one of the first in England to introduce a school council for infants. Each class has representatives on the council, where they use coloured hats to help keep them focused during discussions (e.g. red for policy, blue for pupil request, green for environment). They are also helped to understand the democratic process by 'Cheeky Monkey', a puppet to whom pupils explain what and why certain decisions have been made.

Video Series: School Councils
Release Date 2006