Student Council 05.11.2012

AGENDA             

Laundry

Wi-Fi Survey

House Rep Election

John’s Letter to Parents

Curriculum Time

Roof Climbing

Strategic Plan

Alarms on Doors and representation of Student Body

 IQ selection and screening

night train

Exchange program

 

Laundry – If a machine breaks put a sign on it immediately to tell others it is out of order then email Ollie Williams and it will be serviced. Also, do not try and use foreign coins in the machine, it blocks them and causes moderate chaos.

 

Wi-Fi Survey – There will be a meeting on Wednesday to discuss survey questions, ask your IT rep for more info.

 

House Rep Election – Elections will take place on Sunday 18^th November. So firsties, start writing your speeches! (ask your house reps for more details)

 

John’s Letter to Parents – Over the break John sent a letter to all parents about the college, its progress and its future. If you have not seen it maybe ask your parents to scan and send you a copy. The student body has felt badly represented by this letter which appears to disregard or ignore some of the issues the school has been facing and the student response to these problems. We, as the student council, would like to form our own letter to parents giving them an update from our perspective.

 

Curriculum Time – Again we discussed the wide variety of reasons for and against curriculum time. We would like to propose to Dave that we hold an open debate about this issue and then take a poll in houses to see the general consensus about how the students feel and what should be done.

 

Roof Climbing – House reps will reiterate in house meetings that this should NOT be done. The cost to the school to repair the castle after roof climbing is absurdly expensive and the dangers regarding injuries for the students should also act as a deterrent.

 

Strategic Plan – Today at 5pm in Bradenstoke come and discuss John Walmsley’s plan based on the student perspective we sent out to all. (attached is the copy).

 

Alarms on Doors and representation of Student Body – Student may have felt under-represented by Student Council. A meeting was held before half term to address these concerns. We will wait and see what happens after a few weeks of the alarms before looking again at this situation.

 

IQ selection and screening – Is the IQ selection process too dissimilar across the globe? Phillipa and Ricardo want to look into a way of standardising this process if there is not one already.

 

Night train- Ricardo and Phillipa have had this idea that would enable ‘legitimate nightriding’. They have seen John Walmsley about it today and will report back next Monday.

 

Exchange program – To encourage and facilitate the UWC movement Ricardo and Phillipa wanted to look into starting an exchange program between UWC’s and their students. It would make the movement less fragmented potentially and we could learn from each other.

 

 

 

AGENDA

Student Responsibility

Curriculum time

Alarms on Doors

Communication

John’s Suggestion

Staff Student

 

Student Responsibility – While the staff need to show us that they are willing to communicate and compromise we need to show them that we are mature enough to deal with negotiations and not act rashly.  We also talked about proving a ‘new beginning’ with a litter pick, an apology to the neighbour, discussion on the forms of punishment (alternatives to gating), a community event at AC.

 

Curriculum time – Tim and Shanna went to a meeting with the faculty heads and spoke about the student view while encouraging the staff strongly to get rid of this concept. The staff view on the abolishment of curriculum time was delivered also and their arguments were concerning structure, commitment and the value of the co-curricular program. Schedule changes and structures to the day may be changed so as to allow for a greater amount of initiative time.

 

Alarms on Doors – Students are upset because they feel as though we have been very flexible with regards to this issue and we have been ignored. The alarms ARE coming on but, once we exemplify our responsibility we will be in a better position to negotiate for changes such as extended check-in, a ‘night train’ etc. Come up with ideas for us to propose!

 

Communication – We need to put more effective forms of communication in place. Many things were proposed (please take a look!) : 2 whole school assemblies a term for discussion, the ability to propose emergency whole school assemblies. Making assembly on Monday’s compulsory. Perhaps changing the form or the use of assembly so that it is discussion based as opposed to announcement focussed. Put in the joining papers for first years the recent changes that they are likely to hear about. Monthly student council presentations to the entire school.

 

John’s Suggestion- Malala Yousafzai from Pakistan was shot as a result of her pleas for education. She is now being hospitalised in Birmingham. John suggests we should write a whole school letter to her and potentially offer her a scholarship to Atlantic College.

 

Staff Student – The agenda for tonight’s Staff-Student Council has been emailed but we also hope to discuss: Attendance and a community event at AC. Remember: 9pm, Great Hall.

 

House reps bring back to houses –RECYCLE YOUR BOTTLES.

 

 

 

Student Council 15.10.2012

AGENDA

Student Council Blog

Letter Home

Curriculum time

Cultural Sensitivity

Teacher evaluation

Strategic Plan Review

Big Booker Campaign

 

Student Council Blog – People may have forgotten but there is a blog that has the student council minutes from the most recent to a few years ago. Take a look J: http://notenoughminutesintheday.blogspot.co.uk/

 

Letter Home- Nick implied that a standard could be set for letters among Houseparents that would ensure the gender of a sexual partner after being caught having sex would not be disclosed. Tim and Shanna will follow up.

 

Curriculum time – Tim and Shanna saw Nick about this issue but because John and Dace were not present an official decision could not be established. We would like to abolish ‘curriculum time’ between the hours of 7-9 based on the principle that students should be responsible for their own study time and, while they should not fail to meet obligations, initiatives are convenient at this time and should be allowed.

 

Cultural Sensitivity- As house reps stated at house meetings, please make sure that you are being sensitive to other cultures with regards to jokes about sex.

 

Teacher evaluation – Mariana and Leila went to see Dave about possible obtaining more frequent teacher evaluations. Dave said that this may not happen however there are plans for senior staff and heads of faculties to sit in on lessons in order to review the teachers.

 

Strategic Plan Review- The student perspective of the strategic plan has been completed and will be sent out today. We will then organise a time for John to go through his plan for the whole school so people are aware of changes to come.

 

Big Booker Campaign – There has been controversy surrounding this poster campaign and, while some of the points are valid, we would like to move forward in a constructive way that voices the concerns of the student body to the staff and affects changes in issues such as communication. Whole school meetings are being planned for twice a term in the future and this may allow for improved communication. In addition, we need to make sure that student council is utilised to its full potential so, if you have any concerns, complaints, comments etc. please do not hesitate to tell your house rep or attend student council! Everyone is welcome.

Student Council 08.10 (Funny Hat Theme!)

AGENDA             

Strategic Plan: A Student Perspective

Letter

Co-Curricular Time

Sexual Harassment

Teacher Evaluation

Tim’s Idea

 

Strategic Plan: A Student Perspective – Thank you for all your comments and discussions. The document will be written this week, hopefully completed by next Student Council.

 

Letter- Tim and Shanna will go see Nick Lush about setting standards for what is stated in the letter sent home if caught having sex.

 

Co-Curricular Time- We have all seen Nick Lush’s email and the feedback at Student Council was that the free time (study time/curricular time…whatever) should not be overly- controlled. However, this does not mean that students should plan an excess of events during ‘curriculum time’ or that people should respect their commitments e.g. service and activities to go to extra initiatives or activities. Tim and Shanna will see Nick, Dave and John about this issue.

 

Sexual Harassment – Be aware of different cultures and sensitivities when making references to or joking about sex.

 

Teacher Evaluation – Maybe we should make the teacher evaluations more frequent to ensure our views about teachers and their styles of teaching are heard. Mariana and Leila will see Dave Booker about this issue today.

 

Tim’s Idea – To give the student body greater responsibility concerning the hiring of new teachers by way of a discussion based panel and an equal voting system. To be discussed and explained further.

Student Council 17th September

 

AGENDA

 

Wi-Fi survey

Computer Lab Opening

Letter

Student Led-Project week

John Walmsley’s email

Hacking of I.T. System

Student Council Communication

Dave and Coursework Calendar

Police

 

Wi-Fi Survey- IT reps will be sending a survey soon about your views on Wi-Fi at the college. Mike Manning will also circulate information from last year’s discussion and survey.

 

Computer Lab-  If the computer lab is closed during the weekend see the kitchen porter through the back door, next  to laundry, and ask for the key. If this is not possible you can call Nick Lush (whose phone number is always on the duty cover list).

Letter - Ricardo is meeting Nick Lush today (Tuesday) to set standards for letters sent home concerning sex.

 Student Led Projects- Second years this is mainly an opportunity for you. If you have any ideas or thoughts about projects you want to run talk to Mariana and/or Karl. The project submissions deadline will be October 15^th (subject to change).

 John Walmsley's email-We want to take action against unacceptable inappropriate and embarrassing drunken behaviour. Student Council will be writing a letter to the resident who complained recently expressing our deepest apologies plus indicating that we will be doing a litter pick this weekend. We would also like to send a separate letter/email to the Llantwit community to apologise again. Please be sensible for the rest of your time at AC and in the future where alcohol and the community is concerned.

 Hacking of IT System - Anyone with any information regarding this issue please go see David Hills or Nick Lush because the computers in the house are incredibly necessary.

 Student Council Communication-House reps will have more communication amongst themselves to ensure that all points from Student Council are covered in house meetings on Sundays.

 Coursework Calendar - The coursework calendar that Dave explained last assembly is an IB deadline calendar that may be flexible in only extreme cases.

 Police- Ricardo, Mariana and Karl will talk to senior management to clarify the situation with the police on campus last weekend.

 

Next Student Council: October 1st

Staff Student Council: 3^rd October

Student Council 15.08

AGENDA

General Discussion about:

Role of StuCo

Plans for this year

 Issues from ‘the Booker’:

Malpractice

Attendance System

Carrel Units

Role of Student Council- We are first and foremost a communicative measure between staff and students. We are not going down a ‘project route’ or ‘making more work for ourselves’ by encroaching on other people’s initiatives such as social events etc. Big issues should come to Student Council to be brought to staff while smaller problems should be directed to reps where possible.

Ethinical Diversity in Student Council - Someone suggested that perhaps Student Council wasn’t ethnically diverse or welcoming. It has been agreed that house reps are not people there to represent their country or ethnicity but are there to represent their house. In this way ethnicity is a non-issue. However, non-natives or the shyer people of the house should be encouraged by house reps to come to Student Council, to run for roles if they would be appropriate and to share their school related issues. Student Council is a place where students of all ethnicities and backgrounds are welcome and house reps and second years should ensure that everyone, especially first years coming in, are aware of this.

Malpractice- To limit malpractice Dave has instructed that a common formatting system is used for all future essays and coursework. The Chicago Manual of Style will be the shared citation and referencing method from now on to ensure consistency and accuracy.

Attendance System - This year attendance will be noted for all codes, activities and service sessions. Basically, just show up when and where you’re supposed to be and all will be well.

Carrel Units- This is an issue every single year. Our main points: Feel free to go and use any carrel unit space but be respectful if someone else’s books are on that desk.  Don’t kick someone out who is using a carrel unit space even if you have ‘claimed it’. Everyone is free to use every space because study areas are limited. The long term plan is to build a second year study unit but until this can happen please be fair and open. (Any Suggestion for fair Carrel Unit distribution is welcome).

Thanks for reading!  

Back to School - 15/08/2012

Hi everyone,
Back to school and enjoying August Period! But it's also back to work. Tonight is the first Student Council meeting of the new school year and I'll be updating asap about the changes, plans and general discussion that takes place.

Watch this space
(that rhymed...)