STAFF-STUDENT COUNCIL 23.02.11.

ATTENDANCE.

Paul Motte has given his apologies

Tristian Stobie

Nick Lush

Adrian Disney

Pentti Kouri- Rina, Jose

Morgannwg- Paul, Laura

Powys- Rhys

Gwynedd- Nabeel, Keigo

Whitaker- Marlene

Tice- Solveig

Sunley- Diego

Others

AGENDA.

- Bringing back the TV screening news and photos that was previously in the area before the canteen.

- Making sure the door by the Top Lawn is opened each morning.

- Putting hand sanitiser in the houses.

DISCUSSION.

Television Monitor. This was unfortunately broken and a new one would cost £400-500. Suggestions such as a second hand screen and moving the one currently in the Breakfast Room were offered but were revoked because of logistical problems such as types of screen. It was discussed that people wouldn’t stop in the queue to watch the screen so it wouldn’t be the most effective. It was suggested that switching the one on every break in the Breakfast Room would be of the greatest ease if another screen wasn’t possible. The Staff agreed that this was currently the best idea.

Hand sanitiser. Bottles in the houses and by the academic blocks were requested. Nick Lush spoke to Maria about this today and they decidedthat there wasn’t much point as there is already easy access to soap in the houses. The effectiveness of this when living in such close proximity and because the nature of the virus wasn’t involved with contagion as opposed to infection. It was suggested that keeping the one by the canteen full would be most useful. They decided this was the best idea, as well as asking the Staff in the canteen to monitor its usage.

Door next to Top Lawn. Nick Lush has already emailed the relevant people to make sure it is opened each morning (it is in fact the Kitchen Porter that opens all the doors in the morning and not the Night Staff.

Nick Lush wanted to remind everyone of the discussion for 1^st years in the Dining Hall on Monday. He said that as we are the year group that will be taking control of initiatives next year, he would like us to email more ideas so that we could construct a calendar of events and to encourage our first years to do the same in the future.

STUDENT COUNCIL 21.02.11.

ATTENDANCE.

Pentti Kouri- Rina, Jose

Morgannwg- Laura, Paul

Powys- Rhys

Gwynedd- Keigo, Nabeel

Whitaker- Marlene, Lala

Tice- Solveig

Sunley- Diego, JP

Others

AGENDA.

-IT Email

- Staff-Student Council agenda

- Next House Rep elections

- Blue mugs in the canteen

- Tythe Barn timings

DISCUSSION.

Bill spoke to the IT technicians regarding creating a Student Council email address. The benefits of this would be a more private link to the Council (hopefully combatting the problem of ‘the less vocal voice of the student body’) and a more direct point of communication for the Administration or outside contacts. The IT technicians will get back to him in the near future.

The topics to bring up at Staff-Student Council:

1. Bringing back the TV screening news and photos that used to be in the area before the canteen. This has been mentioned before and was apparently successful in the past but has since been removed. We will discuss the possibility of bringing it back as students felt it was a useful method of keeping informed on current affairs.

2. Making sure the door by the Top Lawn is opened each morning. Some students have said that they have had problems in the morning with the Night Staff forgetting to open this.

3. Putting hand sanitiser in the houses. After the recent outbreak of the virus and general Winter illness across Campus, some students have suggested that hygiene could be improved if this was available.

Staff-Student Council will take place on Wednesday 23^rd February in the Great Hall at 9pm.

The next elections for House Representatives will take place on the Sunday after March break (13^th March). The second year students will step down from their positions to allow for new first year representatives.

The Canteen Staff have reported a major loss of blue mugs in the Canteen. Before Christmas break, there was one mug per student. In the new term, this has decreased dramatically to filling only four crates (almost half of the previous number). This is the reason we currently have to wait to re-use mugs at break time. Students are reminded that the blue mugs do to not belong to them. Furthermore, the Canteen Staff have said that they have found these items in unorthodox places across campus, sometimes being used for unacceptable purposes. They should be returned to the canteen if they are found lying around. Students are allowed to take their own mugs to the canteen. It was also suggested that we could arrange for volunteers to go around campus to find and return the lost items.

With regards to the problem of compulsory student vs. school organised events clashing, the Council discussed some possible remedies to the situation.

- You can schedule a rehearsal over two days rather than one or have alternative rehearsal dates.

- If people are early in their planning, the Arts Centre service can add a rehearsal to their rota to give assistance etc. Contact the Arts Centre with questions regarding this, should you have an event being organised.

In the coming weeks, the Student Council will be looking to set up a page to document the progress of the long-running issues of the school. This will hopefully be available here on the blog so that those outside of the student body can also access this information. We are also looking at creating a monthly newsletter for the progress of the Student Council’s work as a whole.

STUDENT COUNCIL 15.02.11.

ATTENDANCE.

Pentti Kouri- Rina, Jose

Morgannwg- Paul, Laura

Powys- Rhys (who was, in fact, at Student Council last week- my mistake), Jawad

Gwynedd- Nabeel, Keigo

Whitaker- Marlene, Lala

Tice- Solveig, Jan

Sunley- Diego, JP

Others

AGENDA.

-          Student organised obligatory events conflicting with service

-          Nick Lush- less vocal voice being heard

-          Introduce Diego

-          Second year t-shirt

-          News in the breakfast room

-          Long term problems/ ‘Thematic Issues’ action plan

DISCUSSION.

Bill received an email which said that a few times this year student-organised activities had been arranged at a time which conflicted with compulsory IB or service commitments. Bill was asked to remind the student body that this cannot happen.  Consequently, compulsory events co-ordinated by the school must take priority over compulsory events co-ordinated by students.

Bill had a meeting with Nick Lush to discuss the focus for Student Council this term. Nick Lush identified his main aim as making the soft and less vocal voice of the student body heard. Some Student Council representatives said that people in their house had approached them on this matter. Aware that this is an age-old problem, he wants to make sure that each student has equal opportunities to voice their views. He has found that often statistics do not match up with popular opinion and wants to address this particularly in terms of voting on rules such as alcohol consumption etc. Various ways to go about this were discussed such as voting more regularly, raising topics in Staff-Student Council and being clearer when an issue is brought forward whether it is an individual or general view. We also discussed the possibility of a form of anonymous forum for expressing views should students wish to use this.

The Student Council would like to welcome Diego as the new Student Council representative for Sunley house.

The second year t-shirts are being worked on.

It was discussed that people had expressed confusion about the use of the television in the Breakfast Room. There was a consensus that people are finding it difficult keeping updated on current affairs. The television in the Breakfast Room is working and provides news channels and it is therefore encouraged that it is used for this purpose.       

In terms of thematic issues, it was felt that the role of Student Council was under-emphasised: it will be more in coordination than integral in the active process. We discussed having sessions for these efforts on a different night since the audience for Student Council and these initiatives does not necessarily cross. We will then be more focused at tackling the tasks in hand. Teachers will also be encouraged to be active in this process as their views will be integral to resolving these issues.