It is every eleven-year-old's dream come true. Ruling the school and holding the fate of your teachers in your hands. But for some children from Great Dunham Primary School the dream has become reality.

It is every 11-year-old's dream come true.

Ruling the school and holding the fate of your teachers in your hands.

But for some children from Great Dunham Primary School, the dream has become reality. Members of the school council take a democratic role in the day-to-day running of the school.

Made up of pupils aged between eight and 11, the council helps to organise fund-raising events, make major decisions concerning the school and even interview prospective staff.

Headmistress Sally Bone said: "We think it's very important to hear what the children have to say because they will be affected by it.

"They were particularly good at choosing their new teacher. They thought very hard about what questions to ask her and they asked her about things that mattered to them."

About seven pupils interviewed Kim Stabler for her teaching post at the school and they were most interested in her abilities to make lessons fun.

Lewis Fuller, 11, chairman of the school council, said: "We wanted her to be a good laugh but also able to help us to get on with our work.

"We also asked her what she would do in certain situations, like if a child was hurt."

The children chose Kim from three candidates and appointed the latest school secretary.

Mrs Bone thinks it is useful for the children to be involved in the running of the school.

School councillor Alice MacNeill, 10, said: "I think that it will make me more interested in having my say later in life."

It has also earned them a glowing report from Ofsted inspectors.

Described as "a good school with some outstanding features" it scored highly in almost every category.

The school has five permanent teaching staff, with 12 extra staff and 67 pupils.

Mrs Bone said: "Being quite a small school does give us the opportunity to spend more time with individual children. But I think we did so well in the Ofsted report because the staff work together with the children so well."