Student Council 03.12.12

AGENDA

Honour Code

Student Police

Gwynedd Alarms

Tice Door

Window Restrictors

Pre-IB

Attendance Records

ICT Steering Committee

Finance and Fundraising Committee

Pastoral Survey

 

Honour Code – There was an enormous amount of discussion about this ranging from having a school based, unwritten honour code to a house specific honour code. The final ideas that were decided upon for further debate were; a house based code, a school wide code, a combination of both house and school based codes or have the houses come up with their top ten values for an honour code and create a school wide honour code based on the values which are the same for each house.

 

Student Police – David Lankes will be describing this idea at 5pm in the Great Hall. Please attend to be informed because there will be a vote on this next term. Isaac Urner will also be there to talk about the Honour code.

 

Gwynedd Alarms – The pitch is ridiculously high and the volume too loud. Students have complained and we will be bringing this to staff-student council tomorrow.

 

Tice Door – Students argue that the back door to Tice should be un-alarmed as it is the only house with apparent justification for this. Nick Lush has already spoken to Tice house about this issue however the students feel that the decision is unfair. It will be brought to staff-student.

 

Window Restrictors – After complaining that the window restrictors did not allow enough air it has become clear that no course was taken to relieve this discomfort relating to lack of air flow. Tim and Shanna will see John Walmsley to get some action about this problem.

 

Pre-IB – Our response to this program and John’s information email will be dealt with at a later date.

 

Attendance Records – Some students would like the attendance records on reports to be more clear and state exactly what code/activity/service session was missed. The arguments for this are that we need to make sure teachers are completing the attendance records correctly, there should be more transparency and parents should be aware of what their children are missing. This will be brought to staff-student.

 

ICT Steering Committee – This body is formed with Dave Booker, John Walmsley, Sally Norris, Margot McIntyre and David Hills. It deals with technology issues around the school. The minutes are available on mackerel, see Michael Manning’s email.

 

Finance and Fundraising Committee – Corinne and Mike spoke to John about this idea. He outlined a committee of 12-14 members who would attend 2 meetings a term with senior management. They would be trained by Nick Martin to understand the necessary economic terms. The committee would discuss finances, potential donors to the college and look to inform the student body about what the money the college receives goes towards.

 

Pastoral Survey – There was a lot of confusion about what this survey would be used for, where it would go, who would read it etc. Some students didn’t feel entirely comfortable knowing their house parent may read their comments and therefore could not be completely honest. Students also felt that we have the right to review the survey to ensure it is not biased of looking for specific answers. We will ask about this at staff student. It was also noted that the survey only happens every two years and perhaps it should be more frequent. We would like to be informed of the general results of the surveys e.g. are students happy with health centre?

 

Staff-Student Council will be tomorrow at 9pm in the Great Hall, anyone is free to attend.

 

Love,

Student Council xx

Staff Student Council 14.11.12

AGENDA             

AC Community Engagement Activity

Honour Code

UWC Exchange Program

Pre-IB Response

Small issues with alarms

Tracking System

 

AC Community Engagement Activity- This activity will be proposed next term and may work with current systems. The idea is to encourage and implement student responsibility within the Llantwit community. The activity would write letters, organise community events and offer help for general requests such as gardening.

 

Honour Code – Isaac Urner has brought this to the council. The concept here would be that the students would abide by a ‘moral code’ which would act below the code of conduct. It could change the mentality and culture of AC regarding certain issues and allow positive peer pressure to be applied. There are concerns that the group would become too ‘police’ like or that it would be difficult to impose however the suggestion has been met with general positivity and will be looked into further.

 

UWC Exchange Program – Phillipa Hawke and Ricardo Tuma are looking for ways to increase communication and relationships with other UWC’s so as to encourage interaction and support the ethos. Potentially, students would visit other UWC’s either during term time, project week or holidays. The students would pay for the experience themselves and may have to undergo an application process. The issue here would be the practicality of missing school and the effect therefore on the students IB. The idea will continue to be developed and a formal proposal will be written.

 

Pre-IB Response – There is a split among the students between those who have accepted the Pre-IB program but who would like to ensure we are deeply involved in its inception and those who oppose the idea entirely. We, as the Student Council,  will be forming a document that expresses our main concerns with the course (e.g. integration, teaching time) and express how we would like to see the program develop.

 

Small issues with alarms – Difficulties with the alarms such as beeping throughout the night, arriving to school from holiday very late in the evening and contacting the night porters from outside the houses to open the doors will be looked into.

 

Tracking System – Students wanted clarification about what information was seen on this new tracking system. Dave and Nick have explained that every student has an individual profile where information such as attendance, grades, reports, medical files and more are stored. However, certain information can only be accessed by specific people therefore keeping what should be confidential private.

Student Council 12/11/12

AGENDA                             

Follow ups

Governors meeting

Community Engagement Activity

David’s Plan

Honour Code

Post alarm nightriding

Curriculum Time Debate

Pre-IB discussion

UWC Exchange program

IQ Selection process

Night train

House rep elections

Staff student agenda

                               

Follow ups – Laundry machines don’t take foreign coins, please be respectful to the kitchen ladies and the Wi-Fi survey will be coming out by Friday this week.

Governors meeting – the governors are coming to the school on Monday the 26^th November. House reps will be meeting them in the Great Hall at 6pm that day. For all other students we are planning a ‘mingling’ event for that evening which will allow you to ask the governors questions and get to know them a little bit.

Community Engagement Activity – The concept is to enhance student responsibility through letters, community events, general helpfulness e.g. helping the Llantwit community with their gardens and the roads etc. This activity may start next term.

David’s Plan –. We need the students to rely on each other to behave responsibly while still having fun. David’s idea is to introduce ‘Student police’ (the name is susceptible to change) who would be two elected students in each house that would be exhibiting behaviour that other students could follow in such a way that it would limit the number of people ‘crossing the line’. If there was a serious breach of responsibility the student police would then report the act/s to staff. There was a lot of discussion about this and David has agreed to answer questions about the idea so email him with pressing queries. He will be composing a more formal proposal for a trial period of this plan.

Honour Code – Isaac has brought this idea forward. The Honour code is a more flexible and student enforced version of the code of conduct where misbehaviour is incredibly negative and students who partake in breaking the ‘honour code’ are dealt with by different levels of the student body. This idea could work in coalition with David’s ‘student police’.

Post alarm nightriding – The question of punishment for nightriding was raised now that the alarms have been put on. We have decided not to question whether the punishment for leaving the house after check in has changed but rather clarify what the punishment for vandalising, breaking or manipulating security equipment is.

Curriculum Time Debate – A formal debate will be proposed to Dave Booker for all students to attend. The idea is that Dave and the students will have a formal debate about this issue so that the student body and the staff can see arguments from both sides. There would then be an informal poll at the conclusion of the meeting to see whether opinions have changed and what the consensus is. We have yet to ask Dave.

Pre-IB discussion – We would like to form a report that states our concerns about the program but, because we do know that the Pre-IB course will be coming, the report would also include very concrete requests, suggestions and ways in which the implantation of the Pre-IB course will be formed to our preferences where possible.

UWC Exchange program – Phillipa and Ricardo have talked to John about this with positive response and they will create a proposal.

IQ Selection process – Phillipa will investigate what the current IQ selection process is and look into ways of standardising it.

Night train – We would like to trial this idea but there have been arguments from night porters that it is not in their job description and a change in their job would mean a change in contracts etc. Ricardo will talk to the night porters, John and Nick about trialling this idea.

House rep elections – This Sunday (18^th November 2012) your elections for new house reps will take place. Thank you so much to the house reps who have worked in the student council presenting your views for the last year!

Staff student agenda – This will be sent out today. Staff Student Council is tomorrow (Wednesday 14^th November) at 9pm in the Great Hall. ALL are welcome.

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.