Student Council 21.01.13

AGENDA

Formal Replacement of House Reps       

Finance and Fundraising Committee

Roommate Questionnaire

Night Van

College Meeting

AC Newsletter

 

Formal Replacement of House Reps – It was decided that, in an effort to combat house reps missing Student Council and Staff-Student Council meetings, there will now be an automatic impeachment of a house rep who misses 3 meetings, without notice or reason,  during their term.  If the house rep is impeached a new rep will be elected however the impeached house rep may run again for election. The Vice-Chair is responsible for taking attendance and informing the reps in concern of their absence while the Chair is in charge of authorising absence.

 

Finance and Fundraising Committee – There was a discussion about who should be elected for the FFC and how but no conclusion was formed.  Mike, Corinne, Juan Jose and Tomas will be holding a meeting and discussing how the representatives for this committee should be chosen. Please email/speak to them if you are interested in having your opinion about the process.

 

Roommate Questionnaire – Hana Bracale wanted to collect a census of how students would feel about a form, along with the joining letters, that 0-years would fill out about cleanliness, sleeping habits, the nationalities students feel they truly represent etc.  The house parents could then use this after having chosen students to put people in dorms.  Some people disagreed with this idea stating that we are here to learn to live with people and cooperate however others believed that, medically, this could be quite important for people with sleeping disorders or other problems.  Nick Lush will be informed of this discussion.

 

Night Van – The idea of a free van from Llantwit during nights and when there is a gap in the bus/kitchen van schedule could be useful so students don’t have to call individual taxis or wait in the cold or walk back alone.  Some students felt this would be an inefficient use of financial resources while others decided that it could be a very useful and effective idea.  House reps will discuss this in house meetings on Sunday but if you would like to share your opinion speak to Hana Bracale.

 

College Meeting – TOMORROW 6:30pm.  The agenda has been sent out: Pastoral Survey, Pre-IB Implementation, Future of I.T. in the College, Community Engagement. Thank you for responding to the survey.   

 

AC Newsletter – This will be implemented by the new Chair and Vice-Chair, potentially in April.

Staff Student Council 16.01.13

AGENDA

College Wide Meeting

AC Termly Newsletter

Marketing of AC and Pre-IB

College Wide Meeting-   23^rd January. We discussed what points should be raised at this meeting and a poll will be sent to students and staff asking for their opinions. On this poll students and staff will rate the importance of each potential issue to be discussed and from this information an agenda will be formed. People must bear in mind that some points could be better suited for smaller meetings, some points should just be raised for the sake of information so collaboration and solutions can be formed at a later date. People should also be questioning the purpose of the meeting e.g. is it for establishing a communication route and information channel or is it a forum for discussion and problem solving. This will be yours to decide when the survey comes out. Note that this is the first meeting for our year group and the programme should be kept open and flexible. Feedback about the effectiveness of this event will be taken after the meeting.

AC Termly Newsletter- Over the winter break Tomás (Belón) came up with an idea of a termly newsletter that would be given out to staff, students and perhaps parents. It would be in a similar format to the termly report the Tim and Shanna send to the governors.. The initiative aims to improve communication and awareness around the college and the purpose of the newspaper is to provide a serious, student council and school issue focussed discussion forum. Statements and information would be taken from the principal, members of senior staff, the Chair and Vice-Chair and students regarding anything from previous meetings, college wide meetings or recent debates. Additionally, the newsletter would look to congratulate and appreciate the positive changes or acts that have taken place during a term and commend specific groups, students or members of staff.  There was a small debate about who would edit such a document and it was concluded that it could be mainly student council based however there could also be the opportunity for joint editing with members of staff. A formal proposal of the idea is attached to this email

Marketing of AC and Pre-IB- Students have been concerned that the focus of the Pre-IB and perhaps of AC in its advertising is too much on academics and grades. Mostly this point was meant to imply that the school should be aiming to advertise the fact that Atlantic College, and potentially a Pre-IB course, aims to have an important social and cultural impact on its students. As John Walmsley stated during the meeting, our high IB average and academic standards are in addition to, if not aided by, our important co-curricular pursuits. The mentioning of universities visiting the school is meant to indicate that top ranking colleges validate our co-curriculum and learning methods and this should be the factor drawing prospective students in. On a separate note, the date of the commencement of the pre-IB course will be released soon.

Student Council 14.01.2013

Welcome back! Last term was very hectic and full of debate, what will happen this term? We hope it will be an exciting and productive few months for Student Council and we are getting ready to welcome the successors for Chair and Vice Chair...

AGENDA

Wi-Fi Survey

Termly Newsletter

College Wide Meeting

Financial Committee

Calendar

Tracking System

 

Wi-Fi Survey – The I.T. reps have condensed the Wi-Fi survey results (Leila has even compiled the standard deviations!) and will be distributed in the form of pie charts, potentially in INK, soon.

 

Termly Newsletter – Over the winter break Tomás (Belón) came up with an idea of a termly newsletter that would be given out to staff, students and perhaps parents following  on from the report we send to the governors once or twice a term. A formal draft of the idea will be sent  out to all soon and discussed in the Staff-Student Council this Wednesday. The idea is to get statements and information from the principal, members of senior staff, the Chair and Vice-Chair and students regarding anything from previous meetings, college wide meetings or recent debates.

 

College Wide Meeting – This was requested by you and will take place Wendesday 23^rd January. We want this meeting to be productive but also act as a communication meeting, as opposed to a question and answer session. Several potential discussion topics were brought up such as the Night Train, school organised after check in activities and ore IB and more. We will be asking at staff-student what teachers would like to discuss and send a survey where you will get to rate the importance of each point.

 

Financial Committee – This committee is focussed on finance, fundraising and understanding the accounts of Atlantic College. John Walmsley hopes for 12-15 members, Corinne and Mike are looking into  who these people should be and how they should be chosen. They will be speaking to Nick Martin soon for further information.

 

Calendar – Before the end of last term Nick Lush sent out the Spring calendar that describes events, national evenings and meetings for the upcoming months. This can also be found on mackerel resources – calendar, timetable and schedules – 2013-2014 – Draft Calendar…

 

Tracking System – A poll survey has been made and will be sent to Nick Lush regarding the confidentiality of the tracking system and your views on who should see what information. This will be available for voting soon.

 

Staff Student Council TOMORROW NIGHT. All are welcome!

 

Love,

Student Council xx

 

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.