The vision of the Council is to make the school a better place and for boys to see improvements in and around school on a day to day basis. As I took on the role of School Council Chair at the beginning of the summer term, we were faced with unusual circumstances. We were presented with situations that no one had foreseen. We as a School Council set out thinking how we could still make this a worthwhile time and ensure the purpose of the Council was met.
Within a couple of weeks, thanks to the help of Ms D’Arcy, Mr Petrie, and Mr Browning we were able to set up Zoom meetings, where the Form Reps could come and discuss any queries their class had. Many councillors felt it would be beneficial to hold weekly meetings, as some ideas may be more difficult to be put into action than if we were at school. I would also like to thank the Chief Master Dr Ricks, Heads of Years and teachers who join us in these weekly meetings.
In the past few weeks, we have had a few achievements. Our first task was to look at ways to make clubs more accessible and easily advertised. The councillors thought that the best way to do so, was the daily email of the club bulletin. We have also been looking into CAS. We want boys to know that doing CAS doesn’t mean it has to be anything big. Just helping around the house is also considered a service, when our parents are having to balance their busy work lives with childcare at home.
Many of our projects are in the making, including: timetable clarifications, House/Form activities and surveys about the newsletter – to name a few. But none of these could be done without the councillors from Lower and Middle School. I would like to thank these boys who have given up their time to be a part of these initiatives and adapted to the change in working very well. With a reminder in the daily club bulletin, anyone can join the Google Classroom and become part of School Council.
I look forward to talking to the other year groups and their form reps, in the coming weeks. We all hope that we as a school council can come back together again soon, with some new members. (I can’t wait to go back to school for these meetings, even if it’s only for the cake!)