- Staff
- #1
I shouldn't really be sharing this with you guys but I thought I would anyway cuz' I want you to see how great I am. I sent an email to my school's governing body, the headmistress, deputy head and some other teachers that were interested about reforming our School Council. This is the email I sent and what I came up with. Tell me what 'chu think.
Dear recipient's,
More ResponsibilityI have written this email of utmost importance to continue our discussions relating to reforming the school council; in this email I shall share my ideas and views on the current state of the school council and contribute new ideas in order to try and give a perspective on what the school council is like now and what potential it holds. I would greatly appreciate if you replied to this email after reading this and I do sincerely hope that you shall take my ideas on board and use them in the future when time does come to change the school council. I'd also appreciate if you could contact me at some point during school hours.
As a member of the school council I feel we do not have a lot of responsibility or are not able to come up with our own opinions and pass them through with consent. I want the school council to be more of a proactive administrative body in the school with a decent level of authority over other students and to be more prominent in the academy. We can achieve this with the ideas I am going to contribute in this email. I feel that with the current state of the school council, this cannot be achieved successfully and that is why I have composed this email. I realise that some of the ideas will be hard to execute but I feel they will be effective in the long-run.
Possible Rename The vast majority of schools up and down the country give the body the usual name of 'school council'. As much as it isn't necessary and not a huge contribution to a large update on the school council, it could create originality within the school and make it stand out. I, for one, are very bad at coming up with names for things or living entities but I have drafted a few new names which could be used instead of the generic 'school council'. It's not essential and it's definitely not going to be highly useful in the long run but as stated earlier it would make us more original. Alongside this, it could give the school council a chance to sound more professional and more of a 'power' within the academy. I've listed some of the possible names which could be used below;
- Student Council
- Student Committee
- Student Cabinet (Personally my favorite)
- Student Administration
- Student Authority
Different Approach
I feel that the current way school council members are appointed is inefficient and consists of favouritism, cheating and lying. I feel that we should have a different system in order to appoint members of the school council. As much as democracy is favourable in the eyes of the adults to keep the students happy and active within decision making, I don't feel that students take this process seriously and mainly vote for friends or people they hate in order to 'annoy' them as it were. I have devised two ways of appointing students to a position of power within the council but I shall leave it up to your discretion whether these would be reasonable.
I realise and appreciate that there is a lot of controversy surrounding the maturity of younger students, as well as older - therefore I feel that candidates running to become a Chairperson can be of any year. The year group and age of the candidate should not be taken into consideration when the applications are submitted and the adults should purely focus on what the persons capabilities are and how they would benefit the school council. As much as this seems unreasonable, Prefects are only available for Year 11 and therefore a position of this power should be available to all students to prevent unneeded conflicts within the academy occuring.
- Chairperson - The system to become a Chairperson should be separate to that of becoming a normal member of the school council. Candidates, at the start of every academic year, will be given the option to compose a letter/email giving their arguments on how they are fit to serve as a Chairperson, how they can benefit the school council, what experience they have and how reliable they are. Once the Lead Chairperson is selected, it should be given that the Vice Chairperson is picked from the opposing gender to prevent claims of sexism within the school council. If, however, the adults decide that the candidates would not be more beneficial then the current Chairpeople and that the current agree to staying in power, no new chairperson will be selected.
- Year Rep - To become a Year Rep, candidates of both genders from each year must, much like the Chairpeople candidates, compose a letter/email of the same description but this time the decision is given to the Chairpeople. They are then to pick two candidates from each year (a boy and a girl) and are then to decide who would be the Lead and who would be the Deputy. Year Reps cannot be chosen consecutively unlike the Chairpeople. From there on, the Lead Year Reps must decide what position would be preferable for them and give their arguments to the Chairpeople. The Chairpeople will then appoint the Lead Year Reps their ranks.
More Obtainable Positions
As a member of the school council myself I feel that I joined in order to get a sense of responsibility and to have a certain task within it but so far I have been disappointed by the fact that meetings are never held and that there are almost no singular positions to obtain/work for. I've come up with a list of reasonable positions which would be suitable for a student to obtain and would give them a sense of authority and responsibility within the school. I've also given a brief description of each position and what power/authority they hold within the school council and the academy itself. I appreciate that some of these may seem rather far-fetched in what they do but what I have put is optional in a sense that you shall have discretion when it comes about the reform.
- Lead Chairperson - Leader of the school council as a whole and is in-charge of appointing tasks, arranging meetings and giving a final discretion on decisions that are passed through the council. Not necessarily the lead speaker within meetings but is the individual who gives a 'skeleton' as it where to the main speaker. Individual has the power to impeach other council members when agreed with the Vice Chairperson.
- Vice Chairperson - Holds most of the same powers as the Lead Chairperson and assists the Lead Chairperson in their day-to-day tasks. This individual will take power of the school council if the Lead Chairperson is not available/present at that time. Does not have direct power to pass decisions through but has a major role in giving opinions on said decision. Has the power to impeach other council members when agreed with the Lead Chairperson. Preferably opposing gender to Chairperson
- Lecturer - This individual must be highly confident when conducting a meeting and is highly experienced in conducting a meeting. This individual will take lead on meetings and be the main narrator throughout; they have the power to arrange a meeting with conformation from both Chairpeople. This individual will also give feedback from meetings back to either Chairperson if they are not present in the meeting.
- Deputy Lecturer - Much like the main Lecturer, this individual must be highly confident and experienced when speaking aloud. However, the Deputy Lecturer will be in-charge of, alongside the Lecturer, devising regular meetings and topics to discuss. If the main Lecturer is not present for a meeting for whatever reason, the Deputy Lecturer must take to the position of conducting a meeting. Preferably opposing gender to Lecturer.
- Spokesperson - This individual is in-charge of speaking to adults on behalf of the entire school council and will be expected to allow students to know happenings within the school council. One Spokesperson is only required and they must, much like the Lecturers, be confident with public speaking. The Spokesperson will also be expected to contribute to newsletters or posters that are being created for the school council.
- Actuary - This individual will have access to school funding - not directly, but will be able to know how much funding the school has and how much funding the school council is able to utilize when it comes to making decisions concerning money. They will also be given the task of researching, alongside others, products that are needed for the school and finding cost-effective ones. They are an essential person within the council.
- Clerk - (ONLY NEEDED IF THE SCHOOL COUNCIL IS ABLE TO HAVE AN OFFICE). The Clerk will be responsible of being present in the school council office for the majority of the time in order to book appointments for individuals with other members of the council and will be in-charge of sorting files that the school council has access to. They are also in-charge of handing out flyers and alerting other council members of upcoming meetings.
- Lead Year Rep - The Lead Year Rep is in-charge of gathering the opinions of the students within their year and taking those and sharing them within meetings. The five Lead Year Reps will be able to choose a position as well, ranging between the Lecturer to the Clerk (all of the above). They are also in-charge of taking the time to discuss things with their Vice Year Rep and coming up with fresh ideas for meetings and for the school council to generate.
- Vice Year Rep - The Vice Year Rep obviously cannot obtain one of the five positions but due to the Lead Year Rep having one of those positions they will have more responsibility of gathering opinions of other students. They are also in-charge of writing those opinions down for the Lead Year Rep to take to meetings. They are also responsible for making sure students know about the school council's presence and authority.
Total number of individuals within the council with this system = 12Better Identification I feel that the plain badges that members of the school council get are rather dull and are overused in schools up and down the country. Some councilors, including myself, haven't even received our badge yet! I think that like the academy staff, members of the school council should get an ID card on a necklace-like band (I don't know the proper term) which has their year photo, their name, their year/tutor group, their position and their contact email. This will give members of the school council a feeling of duty, responsibility, authority and will make them more recognized throughout the academy. Members of the school council should also be able to have a USB (either provided or bought personally) to attach to this and a key which gives access to the school council office.
New Office
The School Council currently has no office/place of settlement other than using Mrs Baxter's classroom as a meeting place. I feel that we should be able to have our own office/room where we can relax at recreational times, spend after school for homework or other amenities. I recognize that the academy's budget/funding is rather low at this point in time but I feel that this shouldn't be a burden as it will make our school more singular and proactive in the eyes of the local authority which could result in better funding in order to generate more great improvements within the academy. I'm aware of an empty room opposite the drama studio and music room which could be used but I am sure there are other empty rooms in the school which could be used.
The room that has been selected (especially the one i suggested) should be fully refurbished (carpet, walls, windows, door etc) so that the room looks more professional and has a better skeleton to be changed. Since the room will be exclusive access to the school council only, wreckless students will not be able to access the office and trash it so the refurbishment in my eyes would be highly worthwhile. I feel that this is a crucial aspect of reforming the school council and should be executed properly and done professionally in order to get the wanted environment. I hope that the school will make allowances for this and will take this on board.
- Conference Table - An essential for the school council is a conference table which can be used for meetings. A basic concept for the table is five chairs either side then one chair at each tip for the Chairpeople. The two Lecturers will sit closest to the Lead Chairperson, then it should be the Actuary and Spokesperson and then the Clerk and then the Vice Year Reps will sit in order from 11-7.
- Outside Billboard - A billboard should be put up outside the council office, giving rather large pictures, names, tutor groups and positions of the councilors for other students to see. It should also have information about the school council underneath, how to get in touch and so forth. It should also have a meeting rota for fortnightly meetings and other meetings which have been arranged.
- Chairpeople Desks - Both Chairpeople should each have a small desk with possibly a school laptop or a computer on there which they can access. Should also have a small drawer or a filing cabinet underneath to keep important documents which are for the Chairpeople only. This would provide a quiet space for the Chairperson to do schoolwork, homework and school council related work. Can also have a nameplate each.
- Clerk Desk - A Clerk Desk by the front door of the School Council office, like a receptionist, where people can book appointments and register themselves. Should consist of a pen and a clipboard to let members and others sign in and sign out. The Clerk Desk could possibly have a school laptop but should have no more then that. A nameplate/sign can also be used for the current clerk.
- Two Desks - There should be two other desks which members of the council can use; one with a laptop/computer and another for a quiet working space. This desk can also be used for students sent on-call or if isolation is full. As much as this may seem unnecessary it would be better than students having to sit at the conference table in order to do homework/schoolwork/school council work.
- Twelve Lockers - School Councilors can be given the option to instead of having to use the lockers in their registration room they can put their items in the security of the school council office. As the school council office will be locked at all times unless being used by members of the council it would provide a safer environment for school council member's personal possessions. Padlocks not provided.
- Multiple Filing Cabinets and Shelves - Filing cabinets should be added for documents for all the school council members to access for safe keeping and shelves can be added in order for book-type storage mechanisms to be kept much like that in Mr Smith's office. The filing cabinets do not need to be large as the school council will most likely not have that many files to store due to it's small size.
This is all I was able to compose while coming up with new ideas to reform the school council. I am sure that most of you will have even more ideas to contribute and would be delighted to see them as well. I look forward to seeing your replies and will happily discuss anything with you about this during school hours. If I do come with any more ideas/concepts on how to make the school council better, I shall notify you all immediately. Thank you for taking the time to read my email and I look forward to your replies.
Best regards,
CENSORED
