Our Student Council

Student Council Meetings - Room 16

Monday 5th October - Period 3
Monday 7th December - Lunchtime
Monday 1st February - Period 3
Monday 8th March - Lunchtime
Monday 10th May - Period 3
Monday 14th June - Lunchtime

School Form Council Representatives 2009 - 2010

Year 7
Abbi Saunders	7LJ
Madeleine Jones	7JE
Zoe Fawcett	7LD
Majadah Abdelhafiz	7GR
Emma Donnelly	7GR
Year 8
Alexandra Wellman	8SL
Rachel Knowles	8KS
Georgia Garland	8RS
Gemma Evans	8CI
Katie Dignam	8GH
Lauren Sheen	8EH
Year 9
Ciara O’Shea	9JC
Hannah Laidlaw	9LC
Shannon Fielding	9EJ
Emma Johnston	9LH
Lauren Thomas	9AJ
Fran Morrison	9JW
Year 10
Charis Heighton	10DF
Molly Higginson	10DF
Ashley Duckett	10EP
Beth Radcliffe	10CA
Rachel Tyler	10KV
Lucie Risebrow-Wright	10JD
auren Wickings	10SF
Year 11
Paula Noon	11MM
Hollie Sheridan	11KM
Samantha Allanson	11JT
Rachel Holmes	11HS
Jessica Bayley	11ER
Charlotte Nightingall	11CJ
Year 12/13
To be announced...

Student Council Constitution

Aims

To give every student in the school a voice which they will use responsibly showing respect and sensitivity for others: a chance to say what they want, knowing that they will be listened to and that their views will be seriously considered.
To give pupils an opportunity to share and exchange ideas with students in other forms and years and to do this in a way that is assertive as opposed to aggressive.
To involve students in decisions about how the school is run.
To allow students to have direct experience of creating new initiatives, solving problems and achieving their goals.
To respect students as partners in their own education and in improving the school community.
To involve the whole school community in developing shared standards of behaviour and maintaining them.
To ensure that students have the right to express their views, and to have their views taken into account, on matters that concern their life in school, as called for in Article 12 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child.

What the Student Council Can Do.

The issues that can be discussed by the Student Council should not be constrained except in exceptional circumstances as determined by the Headteacher.
The Council will discuss issues relating to the environment and buildings, teaching and learning, behaviour, health and safety, fundraising, bullying, extra curricular activities, resources, equality of opportunity, rewards and sanctions, the prefect system and the School Code of Conduct. The Council will be involved in the decision making process and will have representatives on other bodies within school like the Healthy Schools Group.
The Council will involve its self in the local and global community and this may lead to discussions taking place and proposals being made about buses, traffic, the use of play grounds and local parks etc. On a global level the Council may wish to discuss the plight of people in the third world. The Council may decide to set up initiatives and campaigns in relation to issues that do not directly affect them. E.g. a natural disaster.
Certain issues will be ‘out of bounds’ for discussion as they cannot be influenced by the Council as the policies have been decided nationally or by the LEA. e.g. the content of the National Curriculum which is decided by central government.
Agendas will be formulated in two main ways: The Senior Leadership team and other staff may generate topics for discussion or ideas may come from pupils themselves. The Governing Body may wish to seek the views of the pupils through the Student Council. This will be done through the Headteacher.
The Chairperson of the Student Council (and other officers) will meet with the Headteacher or a Deputy Headteacher to find out what issues are being discussed and which might involve the Student Council needing to have discussions. They will also take proposals to the Headteacher from the Council or petition for changes. This meeting will take place regularly. If urgent matters need to be discussed then the Chairperson of the Council will arrange a special meeting with the Headteacher or their representative.
At all times consideration will be given to confidentiality. The names of individuals will not be referred to and issues will be discussed in general terms.
The Council can make proposals based on its discussions, which can then be communicated to the appropriate person in school. This will most likely be the Headteacher but could be a member of the non-teaching staff e.g. the Canteen Manager or Resources Manager.

Finances

The Student Council will have an annual budget as determined by the Headteacher. For the year 2008/9 this will be £500 but will be reviewed on an annual basis.
A bank account will be set up with HSBC
The Student Council will be responsible for spending its money in a fair way.
The budget will be used for administration costs, stamps, printing, photocopying etc
The Student Council may also raise its own money by fund raising
The Student Council will appoint a treasurer who will be responsible for keeping accounts using Microsoft Excel. The Treasurer will report on finances to the Council at each meeting
The accounts will be audited annually
Decisions about the spending of money will be made by The Student Council by majority decision: the Councillors will decide what money will be spent on and how much
The Chair or the Treasurer and the Link Teacher will sign cheques.
Any cash that the school Council holds in school will be secured in the school safe.

The Structure of the Student Council System

Pensby High School for Girls Student Council will operate a three tier structure
All forms will discuss with their form tutor and 2 elected Student Council representatives.
In Year 7 - 11 there will be Year Council that will consist of 12 students - two from each form. The Year Council will have attached to it a support teacher who can be the year head or a volunteer form tutor from the year group or an interested member of staff. This member of staff could be non-teaching.
At sixth form level there will be two representatives per form and subsequently Sixth Form Council will comprise of 16 students. (This number may change if the number of forms in the sixth form increase or decrease). In addition the Head Girl will be Chair of the Student Council.
From the year Councils there will be 76 elected representatives. From these elections will be held for the Main Student Council.
The Student Council will consist of 15 representatives- 10 from Years 7 to 11 and 4 from the Sixth Form and the Head Girl.
As the Student Council develops it may take the decision to set up sub committees to take action on a special issue or to co-ordinate activities. Sub committees may be set up to deal with a single issue or may exist more permanently alongside the Student Council.
Students who are not on the Student Council may sit on sub committees and sub committees may consult staff/co-opt such as the Resources Manager, the Canteen Manager or the Office Staff.
Student Council Members will report back to all Council representatives via the minutes. They will then report back to forms.
The school Council members will elect leaders of the Student Council except the Chair. The Head Girl will automatically take up the position of Chair. There will also be a vice chair, a secretary and a treasurer. These four key people will be known as the Executive Committee and will serve for the academic year.
At Easter when the School Officers change over the new Head Girl will automatically become a member of the Student Council and take up the position of Chair.
The Secretary will take minutes at Student Council Meetings. These minutes will be circulated to senior leadership team members and the governors as well as being posted in each form room, on the Student Council Notice board and the School website. At the same time verbal feedback and discussion will take place in forms.
Agenda items for the Student Council Meetings will originate from form Councils. A suggestion box will be in each classroom. These items could be discussed at form level and then taken to Year Councils. Year Councils will submit requests for agenda items to the executive committee by a given deadline before each meeting. The Headteacher and the Governors through the Headteacher will submit items for the agenda through the Executive Committee or the link teacher. The Executive Committee will publish the agenda.

Every Student Council member is responsible for making things happen by giving feedback to their own form, helping to plan events and taking an active part in meetings.

All Student Council members represent the form or year group that elected them. They are the link between that group and the Student Council.

Their most important responsibilities as Councillors are to:

Attend Student Council meetings regularly.
Attend form and year Council meetings regularly.
Find out what their form thinks about issues that are being discussed.
Put forward the views and ideas of their form at Student Council meetings.
Report back to their form about what happened at the Council meeting.
Become a member of a sub-committee and possibly become chair or act as secretary to it.

Some people have specific responsibilities as Student Council officers. The officers may be called the executive committee. They represent the Student Council both inside and outside the school and should set an excellent example of efficient leadership.

Chairperson

Prepares the agenda with the vice chairperson.
Runs meetings and leads discussions.
Talks to staff, governors and senior management.
Gives out Student Council notices in assemblies.

Vice Chairperson

Prepares the agenda with the vice chairperson.
Keeps in touch with form and year reps.
Supports chairperson.
Leads meetings if the chairperson is away.

Secretary

Takes notes in meetings and distributes minutes.
Writes letters from the Student Council.
Makes practical arrangements for meetings.
Lets people known when and where meetings are to be held.

Treasurer

Looks after Student Council money.
Keeps accounts of income and expenditure and gives regular reports.
Suggests ideas for fundraising.

Link Teacher

Supports and advises the Student Council
Keeps staff informed about Student Council issues.

The Election Process

Elections will take place in September of each academic year and representatives will be members of the Councils for the whole of that academic year. In the first year this may be in March.
Elections will be by secret ballot.
Any pupil from a form may stand for election but must be proposed and seconded using official forms. The proposer will ensure that the person they are proposing wishes to stand. All three must sign the nomination form.
Each candidate in a form will produce a manifesto, on paper, which will be published on the form notice board one week prior to the election.
Elections to the Year Councils will take place on the same day across all year groups using official ballot papers. The outgoing Student Council or when the Council is first set up by the Working Party will prepare these ballot papers. The two students in each form who gain the majority of votes will represent the form on the Year Council.
In each form the form tutor will operate this system and will announce the results of the count. The votes for the two candidates attaining a majority will be read out. Candidates who are not selected will be told how may votes they gained if they request this information.
The Year Council members will elect members of the Student Council. Up to six (8 in Sixth Form) representatives from Student Councils could put their name forward for election to the Student Council (one from each form). They would be asked to make a verbal presentation to the Form Council who would then vote by secret ballot. The two gaining the most votes would represent their year on the Student Council. This will be organised by the member of staff attached to the Year Council.
Each September when the Student Council first meets the other members of the Council will elect the other three members of the executive committee. The same process will be followed for other elections but those standing to be elected as members of the executive committee should give a two minute presentation at the first Council meeting before elections take place. The Chair will operate these elections.

Meetings

There will be one Student Council Meeting per half term making 6 in each academic year. These will be preceded by Year Council Meetings and a meeting of all Year Council Members with the Chair and Support Teacher. This meeting will be used to determine the agenda. At Form Time Student Council Reps will, with the support of their Form Tutor, disccuss items relating to Student Council
Within 5 days of the Student Council Meeting minutes will be distributed to all form Council representatives so that they can lead a discussion and give feedback in forms.
Student Council Meeting dates will be scheduled into the School calendar.
Matters raised in forms will be discussed at Year Council Meetings and decisions made about which items the Year would like to discuss at Student Council.
Form Meetings will take place in form rooms during morning registration.
Year Council Meeting will take place in the lunch hour in classrooms.
Student Council meetings will take place in PSHE Citizenship lessons.

Removal/ Resignation

If representatives wish to resign from the Student Council they should send a letter to the Chair of the Council giving a resignation date and the reason why. If a representative wishes to stay on as form representative then the Chair will ask the link teacher of the form Council to liaise with the year Council to elect a new member for the Student Council. If the student wishes to withdraw from member ship of the Year Council then the Form tutor will organise another election in the form.
If the Executive Committee believe that a Student Council member is missing meetings, is not working within the boundaries of the constitution or in any way is not representing its electorate appropriately the committee can ask that student to attend a meeting to discuss their concerns. If the situation does not improve then the executive committee will discuss the situation with the link teacher, the representative will be removed from the Council and a new representative will be elected for the vacant position as in the section above.

Amendments to this constitution will be made if the Student Council deems it to be necessary. Any changes will be made after consultation through the democratic process.

Mrs P Russell

Amended 01/07/08

What the Student Council Achieved in 2007- 08

Changes to the PE kit and a commitment from the PE department to try to provide a greater variety of sport in PE lessons.
Active Playground set up with the activities you asked for and you influenced what equipment was purchased and how Active Play was organised.
Changes in your toilets: health and safety notices and more sanitary bins.
You acted as a pressure group, along with other interested parties, to get the Pelican Crossing outside school.
Better playground facilities are planned as a result of your request.
More bins have been purchased for outside at your suggestion.
Outdoor eating area came partly as result of your concerns about queuing for the canteen.
Plans are currently being made to improve the canteen environment and provide you with the healthier choices you requested at lunch time.
Changes have been made to the PSHE programme at your request.
You gave your views on behaviour in school to Mr Moseley and influenced the writing of our new BfL Policy which you were then consulted on.
You were asked what you thought about our current reward system and what sort of rewards you would like. The system has been changed having listened to your views. A final list of rewards is being drawn up for you to give your views on.
You have been consulted on other school policies that affect you- Anti-Bullying and Drugs.
Your views were sought on the Prefect System.
We have made changes to the way we raise money for charity after listening to you and we have chosen Claire House as our School Charity for this year.