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STUDENT COUNCIL MEETING
WEDNESDAY 6 NOVEMBER 2007
Present: Mr Foley, Miss Berrington
Student Council members: James Baker, Martha Dix, Sophie Field, Josh Gannon, Miriam Gannon, Hayley Hunter, Myles Jordan, Casey Meakin
The meeting began with introductions. Everyone stated their name, year group and how long they had been members of the Student Council.
Suggested agenda items had been put forward at the last meeting of the Student Council with Mr Perry. Each item was discussed in turn.
1. Redecoration
Mr Foley asked for ideas and suggestions. All agreed that the science corridor, main corridor and maths corridor needed redecorating. The English corridor was similar to one at St Brigid’s with a mural on the wall. The school could have more murals which staff and pupils could get involved in. Josh said he’d asked others what they thought of the English wall and they thought it was very colourful and that it should be like that in other faculties as well. Myles said he took a family round there at open evening and they thought it was beautiful. Mr Foley said that a previous teacher, Miss Clark had organised the mural. She has since left the school. It was colourful and attractive and people liked to look at it. Mr Foley said that to have more artwork around school needed two things, labour and money. Who will do the work and how do we pay for it? James said the students themselves could do the work and that way it wouldn’t be vandalised. Josh said Pupil Voice and the year groups could help and added that the pictures around school were now a bit old. All agreed it would be good to get the students involved. Myles said that pupils can have their say and what they feel science (for example) means to them and it would make people proud to see their work displayed. It would involve a lot of preparation though. Mr Foley asked if the council would be willing to give up some of their free time to help and everyone agreed they would. It was also agreed that the Science corridor would be a good place to start.
Mr Foley said he would speak to Mr Horner to see if the school can help with financing the project and that he would speak to Mrs Ballantine for her advice.
The new boards that replaced the old existing ones had left patches behind and these need to be sorted out too. Mr Foley agreed to speak to Mrs Tinsley who is responsible for the noticeboards.
2. Toilets
Locks in the girls’ toilets were broken. The toilets in technology were dreadful and locks have been taken off doors recently. There is a second door in the boys toilets too which bangs against the wall and is beginning to crack the tiles. This needs to be looked at. Mr Foley said he had a look at all of the toilets last year and that we are the first school in Birmingham to pay people to clean and check toilets so he was disappointed to hear this news. It was established that privacy and broken locks were the main issues. The toilets on the main corridor were cleaner than those in other parts of the school especially the Newman block. Mr Foley said he will check and make sure that the toilets are as they should be within the next week
Regarding hygiene, toilet paper is always in stock. One member has smelt smoke in the girls’ toilets previously but no one had ever actually seen anyone smoking in either the boys or the girl’s toilets. The smell of smoke is worse in the Newman toilets.
3. Baserooom
The council wanted somewhere where pupils can speak to members of the Pupil Voice, to give suggestions and meet form or year representatives. Once or twice a week at break times would be a good idea. The Green Room in drama was suggested as a suitable venue. It was cleared out by the pupils some time ago and hasn’t been used since. Mr Foley suggested Mr Perry’s room and that he could speak to Mr Perry about this. All members agreed.
4. Website
The members are working on the website and on a newsletter. An email account has been set up but they can’t create a myspace account at the moment. Mr Perry is looking into this.
5. Lessons
Mr Foley read aloud the five points that the council previously agreed make a good lesson. There can be a wide range of ability within one set and Martha referred to worksheets in science which had different levels of work on each side and said that this was a good idea. In Year 8 in the English basic skills lessons sometimes you can go over work that has been done before. Mr Foley asked about subjects where there is more group work and discussion. All agreed that Geography was the best subject for group work with Mr Baker, Mr Perry and Miss Hearn. The faculty has hi tech facilities for good presentations, podcasts and videos. The leading edge in IT was found in Geography. Josh said English also involved group work especially in a recent lesson on bullying. Hayley agreed about the bully’s bedroom project they worked on. Citizenship lessons also involve a lot of group work.
Maths, science, and history do not change. You work in pairs but not in bigger groups. Miriam and Myles said that more group work and interactive work is done with the younger year groups but not so much by the older ones. Josh said he enjoyed maths recently where they were given a worksheet to do and started the lesson with games on mymaths.
Mr Foley asked how people handle pupils saying what they think about lessons. Members said that teachers are sensitive. It is hard to give ideas of a lesson in front of a teacher. One teacher asked a class and was not happy with what was said. Mr Deneny though will ask people what they learnt and what they thought and he makes jokes. In Geography, Mr Baker wants to know what pupils think and asks for opinions and he uses this information to improve lessons. Mr Perry gave out triangles last year for pupils’ ideas and suggestions.
Last year, Year 7 did evaluations a lot especially in Citizenship and English but not so much this year so far. Everyone thought it was a good idea though to give feedback.
6. Sharing ideas with teaching staff
Everyone said it would be a good idea to do this. Perhaps members could make a video or presentation to be shown at a meeting so that members didn’t physically have to attend.
7. Canteen and food
Mr Foley said that Mrs Hawkswood met with the food committee last night. He asked the council what they thought of canteen meals. Members said that food was expensive and there was a lack of vegetarian food. There were quite a few vegetarians in the school and most bring their own lunches. Mr Foley asked about healthy eating and members said that most kids are not bothered about eating healthily and if they had a choice would prefer food like chips and pizza. Compared to primary schools though there is much more variety and choice. Myles gave an example of Christ the King school where he did his work experience and said that they ate very healthily and had a theme day once a month as a treat where they would have chips or Chinese food on the menu. Mr Foley said that 3 years ago 800 portions of chips were sold per day now 600 jacket potatoes are sold instead.
8. Christmas newsletter
The newsletter will include what has happened in the year and what the council have achieved. Members will get together two or three weeks before Christmas to decide on what will go into the newsletter and Mr Perry will check it. Myles said they need to make it appealing and it would be a good idea to include a Christmas wordseach. Photographs of the members would also be included. The website will have a section explaining who members are and what they do.
9. Other points raised
Josh mentioned the queues in the canteen. When teachers send you out of lessons late you are at the end of the queue and don’t get served in time. By the time you reach the front, dinner time has gone. Sophie said a lot of food is wasted if teachers send you out of lessons last. You don’t get chance to eat all your dinner and you waste your food and your money. Could the queues be shortened or could there be more tills? Mr Foley said that having extra tills is being looked at.
Miriam Gannon referred to the overcrowding in corridors and especially on stairs. Staircases A-D are not safe. Stairs get crushed. Also when Year 7 and 8 line up for assembly they line up along the corridor and block it. Safety here is an issue.
Myles said that Year 11 have lost their privileges for the time being. A lot of people think that the incident on Friday 2 November involved just Year 11 pupils but it involved a lot of other pupils as well. Mr Foley said he was aware of the details and that as Myles said, privileges have been lost but just for the time being.
Mr Foley thanked the Council for all their work. We now had to follow up what we had agreed today.
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