STUDENT COUNCIL 19.09.2011

ATTENDANCE.

PK – Andy, Rina

Morg – Paul

Powys- Shreya, Rhys

Gwyn – Juan, Laura

Whit – Marlene, Albert

Tice – Solveig, Miriam

Sunley – Eliza, Diego

AGENDA.

* Marie-Sophie

* Biofence removal

* August period review

* Otter pads

* Rep lists

* Internet review

* Integration of first years into Student Council

* Marie- Sophie. Second years can now get their overall predicted grades (out of 45) and subject-specific ones only if it is necessary for the course they are applying to. This will be taken away again if students start pushing teachers for higher grades. Predicted grades should also not really be shared between students.

* Biofence removal. We are still waiting on feedback from Staff about the reasons for the biofence removal.

* August period review. Student Council discussed how would be best to organise feedback on August period, Service week and Induction. Details to be arranged.

* Otter pads. Rune will talk to the Porter to get more information about the Otter pad issue (!)

* Internet review. The Governors made it clear that they were interested in what the students thought about the issue of the internet in AC. Student Council decided to contact other UWCs and ask them how their WiFi/ laptop system effect their experience.

* Integration of first years into Student Council. It is typical that there are lots of ideas in this term and the second years don’t have time to pursue them. This is a great time to . Different ways of integrating first years were discussed – creating a ‘Sub-Student Council’ as a task force or simply asking first years put themselves forward to take on responsibilities.

STAFF-STUDENT COUNCIL 14.09.2011

ATTENDANCE.

PK – Rina, Andy

Morg – Paul, Maria

Powys –  Shreya, Rhys

Gwyn – Laura, Juan

Whit – Marlene, Albert

Tice – Solveig, Miriam

Sun – Diego, Eliza

Tom Blackwood

Paul Motte

Adrian Disney

Nick Lush

AGENDA.

* August period/ first year induction review.

* Student IDs.

* Otter pads.

* House bank times.

* Breakfast times.

* Carrel Units.

DISCUSSION.

* August period/ first year induction review. August period/ first year induction review. The Staff agreed that feedback would be really useful and that this should happen as soon as possible. We should also include induction feedback from a second year perspective.

* Student IDs. The main reason for wanting IDs seems to be problems when travelling. This can be helped by having an ISIC card which the school can help you get. Other ID cards which help getting a

railcard or when shopping etc can be bought on the internet for around £8. The fact that this should be better publicised was discussed – perhaps in the student handbook or the joining papers especially so that students could get their flight to AC cheaper when coming for the first time. The acceptance letter issued by the school can be used as a form of ID when travelling but some students have had problems when coming back after their first flight.

* Otter pads. The new paper we have is sustainable. There is less paper available because it is more expensive but it is hoped that this will encourage students to use the paper more responsibly.

House bank times. Paul will ask the House Bank to change their opening times. This has been done and an email was sent out, confirming times.

* Breakfast time. Breakfast will be open until 8:10 from now on, like last year.

* Carrel Units. Nick said he would ask the cleaners to clear the desks in all Carrel Units and not just some, which has happened so far. Students are allowed to leave their books on the shelves but it is at their own risk. Students should be reminded that no one can claim a Carrel Unit and these spaces must be shared and respected. The Student Council are working with the Staff to try and think of the best solution to this problem. Some suggestions included: opening up new units, investing money into the rooms currently unusable as Carrel Units, getting an estimate of the shortfall on Carrel Units and finding out exactly who wants one so that they could be assigned on a room as opposed to student basis.

* Nick Lush asked us to remind students that there were bottles found in fields surrounding the College which, especially during harvest season, are incredibly damaging to machines, crops and consumers. There was also a sock found on the smoke detector in S13 Carrel Unit.

* Paul Motte commented that the Governors had very positive responses to the Glassroom Event. We will try to do this twice a year as a social event. Students should be reminded that this should be a social event and not a means for students to bypass the Senior Staff with their views.

STUDENT COUNCIL 13.09.2011

ATTENDANCE.

PK- Andy, Rina

Morg- Maria

Powys- Rhys, Shreya

Gwyn- Laura

Whit- Marlene, Albert

Tice- Miriam, Solveig

Sunley- Diego, Eliza

AGENDA.

* Bio-fence/ diversity area removal.

* August period/ first year induction review.

* AC IDs.

* Blue muggin’.

* Reppin’.

* Save the Otters.

* Integration of first years.

* Board of Governors.

* Student Council email.

* Carrel Units.

* Wifi.

DISCUSSION.

* Bio-fence/ diversity area removal. Two weeks ago, several biodiversity areas (protected areas for nature to be undisturbed) around Campus were cut down. There is a rumour that it was due to their appearance during weddings. However, they were only cut down when there were two weddings left in the season. The Student Council wants to know why this happened and Estate and Sustainability Council are working on this.

* August period/ first year induction review. Students felt that there needed to be a review of

August period and first year induction to improve them for next year. This could be organised within Services, year groups or smaller, mixed groups. Progress will be made within the next couple of weeks.

* AC IDs. Identification which would be helpful for students when travelling through Customs to get to AC and needing to prove their purpose was suggested.

* Blue muggin’. Just a reminder to ask students to put the blue mugs back when they are finished with in the Canteen so as not to repeat last year’s issue.

* Reppin’. The system for Reps to increase the work done between Houses and to ensure that Student Council aren’t dealing with issues that should be done by Reps is being created. We hope to expand this so that each set of Reps will have an email group.

* Save the Otters. Paul Lau will do some more investigating into why the stationery has been changed from Otter pads.

* Integration of first years in Student Council. The Student Council is working on ways to integrate first years to get their input, feedback, help them pursue their ideas more efficiently.

* House bank. Student Council discussed when would be the ideal times for House Bank to open.

* Board of Governors. The Board have recently shown they are very interested in what we are doing as a student body and feedback to them is much appreciated. Stephen Cox agreed that it is important to find a new focus for the College, set up in a Cold War context, to understand the positives and negatives of life at the College and to encourage the less vocal voice of the Student body, which is usually the majority.

* Student Council email account. This is a (very) long running issue – having a way for students to communicate anonymous messages to the Student Council i.e. concerning less popular student opinion. The Student Council decided to try and organise something without the IT department.

* Carrel Units. Carrel Units are not to be claimed. Students can leave their belongings on the shelves in the room. A solution to this problem is still being discussed. Suggestions have included opening more Units, assigning people to a room as opposed to a spot and finding out who exactly wants a Carrel Unit.

* WiFi. First years should know about the WiFi. Coffee Lounge promoting themselves to say they will have wireless. Said they have tried this and it crashed. Need to talk to senior management if they want to do this. School want to be laptop school with wireless bubble.

* Staff-Student Council Agenda.

·         August period / first year induction reflection (Bill).

·         AC IDs (Laura).

·         Otter pads (Paul).

·         House Bank times (Maria).

·         Morning breakfast hours (Rune).

·         Carrel Units update (Tom).

Main Changes to the Code of Conduct this year.

·         UWC Common Code of Conduct updated

·         Alcohol only allowed for 18+ on licensed premise

·         Alcohol no longer allowed with house parents.

·         ADDED: Excessive consumption of alcohol may lead to suspension

·         Possession of spirits will, in most instances, lead to suspension but not automatically

·         Smoking still not allowed in general.

·         People caught smoking in a building or tampering with fire equipment automatically suspended.

·         Students smoking near a building may be suspended.

·         ADDED: All absences authorized and unauthorized to be recorded on students reports at the end of each term

·         Students no longer required to wake up during exam period

·         Students 'should' not visit other dorms after check-in but no longer banned

·         During exam period, lights out and wake-up no longer enforced

·         Recognized that computers switch off at midnight

·         Gated redefined as not allowed to leave 'their student House' as opposed to previous definition of ‘campus’

Staff-Student Council Minutes 11.05.11

ATTENDANCE.

Pentti Kouri- Andy, Rina

Morgannwg- Paul, Aria

Powys- Shreya, Rhys

Gwynedd- Juan Carlos, Laura

Whitaker- Marlene

Tice- Miriam

Sunley- Eliza, Diego

AGENDA.

House Roles.

Welcome Letter.

To Do List for Senior Management.

DISCUSSION.

House Roles. All Houses elected their new House Roles.

Welcome Letter. The Student Council is working on a Welcome Letter for the upcoming first years which will be sent out with the Welcome Pack from the School.

To Do List for Senior Management. The Student Council is compiling a list of things that the Senior Management have agreed to do as a reminder to them to do complete what they have promised in the next few weeks.

ATTENDANCE.

Pentti Kouri- Rina, Andy

Morgannwg- Paul, Aria

Powys- Rhys

Gwynedd- Juan

Whitaker- Marlene

Tice- Solveig

Sunley-Eliza, Diego

Paul Motte

Tristian Stobie

Adrian Disney

AGENDA.

Subject Summary Sheets.

Tutor System.

Workshops/ Induction period Non-Native help.

Transparency in Monthly Grades.

Social Centre.

Code of Conduct.

Subject Summary Sheets. A recent topic of discussion has been a need for clearer information about subjects at the beginning of the year, particularly when Students are still settling into their timetable. This would be efficient and mean that Students could organise themselves more quickly and find out if a subject is right for them. It should be a listof the topics, resources, assessment criteria and help etc for their subject. Tristian says he will look into getting this done.

Tutor System. Some students have issues concerning the disparity within the current Tutor System. Students feel like a good Tutor-Student relationship is very important and that this is not available to all students currently. The Administration said they would try to address this by emphasising what they have done in the past which is to recognise which Tutorial style works best and try and increase this across the Campus. They will also emphasise the importance of regular Tutorials. However, it should be remembered that any specific problems regarding Tutors should be reported to Tristian.

Non-native Workshops during Induction period.The Administration is keen to arrange these and there is plenty of space in the programme for them to be run.The new English B teacher has been recruited for ESL skills and so non-native support should increase next year.

Transparency in monthly grades.This is linked to the issue of the Tutor System. The main conclusions were that there should be more detail put in the monthly feedback, we should meet with Tutors after we have received the grades from our Teachers and had time to discuss them. If it is not currently clear how a grade is calculated, Tristian should be contacted.A System in which Students were notified of their grades at the same time and in the same way should be established but this is an on-going project as it is difficult to do.

Social Centre.The main decisions taken so far have been to have mirrors, blinds and a dance bar in Sosh and putting Sofas where the bar area upstairs is. The Administration is keen to improve the amount of exercise and physical activities taking place on Campus and use the Social Centre in a more efficient and diverse way.

Code of Conduct. The main changes to the Code of Conduct this year have been to help create a common system throughout all UWCs. They worked on this mainly last year and this year sees mainly slight tweakings. Absences from codes will now be recorded on Reports. The College is obliged to report excessive absence to Universities and this change will not affect the current system. The reason for this change was mainly because there appears to be a correlation between grades and students being taken away from the College for long periods of time.

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.