Student Council Minutes 09.05.11

ATTENDANCE.

Pentti Kouri- Andy, Rina

Morgannwg- Aria, Paul

Powys- Rhys, Shreya

Gwynedd- Laura, Juan

Whitaker- Marlene, Albert

Tice- Solveig, Miriam

Sunley- Eliza, Diego

Rune

Others

AGENDA.

* StuCo Welcome Letter to First Years

* House Rep Roles

* Academic Support

* Non-native Support Update

* Furniture in the Rooms
* Thematic Discussions Strategic Plan

* Sustainability Council

* Staff-Student Agenda

DISCUSSION.

Welcome Letter. The Student Council discussed the Welcome Letter that will be sent to all new students along with the Welcome Pack from the College. The suggestions so far were to include details of: the Swap Shop Glassroom Event, Mission Based Classes, the Facebook group, a list of things to bring, an explanation of the Student Council system and a list of the current House Representatives. Any other suggestions are welcome.

House Rep Roles. The elections for the House Rep Roles will take place next House Meeting. There will be a set of common roles across the Houses. The aim is for there to be more communication between the Reps of these common roles. Other Reps can be decided by Houses.

Non-Native Support Update. Following one of the Thematic Discussions, it has become clear that some students would like greater support for non-native speakers, particularly in Academics. Lily is working on setting up a Service in which second years would learn to tutor first years in English to help build confidence and ability. Solveig and Juan are working with Lily on having better non-native support in general. They would like to do things such as have workshops during August period and Induction for non-natives and have meetings for non-natives to go over things that have been said in Assembly etc that were difficult to understand. The new English B teacher will also be important in this process.

Furniture. Students are currently not allowed to have any additional furniture in their Dorms. There are exceptions to this i.e. Houses with only one Quiet Room are allowed one extra piece. Some students have asked if this rule could be changed. The Student Council will clarify the rules regarding Furniture and hope to take the matter to Staff-Student Council.

Thematic Discussions Strategic Plan. The results of the discussions have been put on the Internal (Mackerel/ College/ Meeting Minutes/ Student Council/ Student Council Reference Folder) Students should now take responsibility for putting the results into effect with the various activities, initiatives and movements.

Sustainability Council. The Sustainability Council agree that it would be beneficial to have a representative come to Student Council, particularly to discuss Environmental issues.

Staff-Student Agenda.

Subject Summary Sheet (A sheet containing important information such as Contact Details and Resources for Subjects. This could be given out during Induction)

Tutor system (Clarification on the inconsistency of the Current System. What is the training procedure for Tutors?)

Code of conduct (Why have the main changes been made?)

Workshops/ Slot in Induction for non-native tutoring (Better help for non-natives on arriving)

The Social Centre (What is the current plan and why have some of the decisions been made?)

Transparency in monthly grades (Would it be possible to have direct access to Monthly Grades instead of through Tutors)

Academic Support.There has been some discussion about the need for better and more structured Academic Support at the College. The Student Council decided that it was less of a problem of resources and more of a problem of publicising the resources we have. The Student Council suggested looking at the current Tutor System, having each teacher produce a page of information about their subject including resources and contact details and creating a peer-tutoring system where students in both years could study together outside of class time.