Staff-Student Council Minutes. 02.11.11.

ATTENDANCE.

Pentti Kouri – Andy, Rina

Morgannwg - Paul

Powys - Shreya

Gwynedd – Laura, Juan

Whitaker - /

Tice – Solveig, Miriam, Tom

Sunley – Diego, Eliza

Adrian

Nick

Paul

Ingvild – Social Life Committee Prefect

AGENDA.

- Class rubric

- Security

- August period review

- Project week

- Night reports

- Alcohol

DISCUSSION.

Class rubric. Nick Lush will approach the subject heads and ask them to look again at giving out a summary of the course topics, study resources, where to go for help, skills needed for the course etc as not every teacher did this. Students should be aware to ask teachers for help – they are available at times explained on the timetable and it is a student’s responsibility to ask for one. Some felt it was not necessary and such information would become clear during the course. However, it was discussed that finding out during the course would be little use if it was a factor that would have altered a student’s decision about taking the course earlier. There is an assessment policy which every faculty must have with details of how monthly grades are assessed, predicted grades are formed etc but this is not always clear to the class.

Security. Student Council suggested phones in academic blocks, gym, and coffee lounge etc. and locks on doors i.e. computer lab. The Staff said they would speak to the Committee responsible for security at the school about Student Council’s suggestions. Currently there are phones in the science blocks and in the library with the emergency numbers posted. It isn’t possible for the school’s system to support more phones on the server currently. Students need to stop leaving doors and windows open at night – efforts of security need to come from everyone.

August period review. The Staff’s main point was that they felt the Diploma Period breaks every few weeks could be considered a good replacement for the previously longer August period as they provide breaks for socialising, work and recuperation.  Hopefully there will be a thematic discussion on this in the coming weeks.

Project Week. Student Council asked if Project Week information could be put in the joining papers with an indication of the price range, if the sign-up process could be more like Service sign-up and only the amount of available spots advertised (i.e. if certain classes have priority) and if students would be able to lead projects. The Staff said they would authorise work experience, volunteering etc. if it could be proven and that students could approach Nick Lush with ideas for student-led group projects. They will try and review the system for next year.

Night reports. The night reports are now being sent to all teachers because the teachers want to know who is working all night regularly. The teachers will not receive all of the information on the night report – just who is up working or socialising.

Alcohol. At Staff-Student Council, we discussed that this issue goes around in circles and nothing ever changes. It is recognised that there are a lot of students behaving irresponsibly with regard to alcohol – buying it for under 18s, consuming it on the cliffs, in fields and leaving rubbish etc. It was also recognised that there are extremes in this situation – there is a feeling that there are many drinkers in the school but those who drink in moderation receive the same as those who are irresponsible with alcohol. At the same time, there is a feeling that those who do not drink at all receive prejudice for this.

The Staff said that drinking had always been a problem but as alcohol has become cheaper and stronger, people tend to get drunker more often. Because of the reputation the school is getting in the local community and internationally, National Committees have begun to consider not sending students here anymore which is a disaster.

There used to be a Staff-led bar on Campus but UK Law changed 4-5 years ago which meant this could no longer happen. There was discussion as well that sometimes the bar operated illegally. These same things happened at independent schools across the UK. After this, all teachers agreed that there would be no alcohol on campus at all and at a recent UWC Heads meeting it was found that only our college and one other even have alcohol at their leavers dinner (the other had it because they held their dinner in the local town).

The main decision was that we needed as a college to understand the boundaries in the Code of Conduct and the informal boundaries we set for ourselves. This is so that we don’t waste time discussing what cannot be changed because of law. The problem needs to be addressed to irresponsible drinkers predominantly and there needs to be encouragement given to those who do not normally give their opinion as often to do so.

As of yet, the method for addressing this problem is undecided. Staff-Student Council discussed the possibility of having break-out groups in assembly to discuss this but many factors need to be taken into account to work out the most effective way of doing this. The Social Life Committee are also working on creating an online calendar with listings of more events at weekends.