23/11/11

Minutes 23/11/11

Absent: Ben G (arranged absence), Marcus D

Recap on anything from last week:

• Timmy G - went to speak to librarians, and apparently the library used to have 8 bean bags as opposed to the present 4, but there were issues with getting books with people sprawled around the library with more bean bags, so for the conceivable future, the number will remain at 4.

This Week:

• IoL French course in the 6th form has been removed from the school curriculum. This is partly the action of the Council, although quite a bit is the action of the Modern Languages department, so points for all teams. It has been replaced with the iGCSE course spread over two years, and is slightly harder but more of the work will be spread over the two tears, with little dips into work covered in the IoL e.g. the literature part. This will be in place from next year onwards, and everyone will sit French along with their other GCSEs.
• The prospects of a kind of tutoring system around the school was brought up; a big thing requiring a lot of effort. Essentially, an SPS student would teach people out of school. This was put forward by Andrew Janssens, and a version of this already exists - in the 8th form, one can do Voluntary Service and teach children from other schools as part of the games half. One must speak to Mr. Taylor to sort this out, however there is quite a big demand for it in the school. It would also be a convenient way for 5th/6th formers to complete the voluntary service aspect of their DofE award, although it might look like students are being stolen. The science programme was discussed, as there has never really been a proper structure to the service (apparently). Andrew Janssens to speak to Mr. Taylor furtherly about the "tutoring" idea.
• Students are being asked at the moment what we want from the new building under construction at the moment. Perhaps we could have book lockers and games lockers in an area in which a boy has both next to each other; alternatively, of course, one could just combine the two i.e. have the big lockers with more shelving space. The 8th form are not given priority for book lockers, so this might be useful. One thing is necessary, however - big lockers must be available for all the 8th Form.
• The Prefects system was again discussed. There is a confusion about the particular role of prefects. There are slightly too many, it was suggested, but it was revealed that last year there was a decision to augment the numbers. We need more people to be available for things like weekend tours and concerts, as there are more with whom one can share the load, and can count on to be responsible. The question was still posed, however, should it be spread between the two years of the 8th Form? There would be problems with L8ths telling U8ths what to do, though. The system doesn't bother that many people, and it appears to work. The selection of prefects should be and indeed was discussed. It works thusly: every member of staff has 20 votes at the end pf the L8th, and each student has 10. Undermasters get a list from whom they sort out probable candidates. There are two rounds of voting, though. The Head Boy / Vice Head boy, by now already chosen, are consulted to see if anyone absolutely vital has been missed out.

TBC with the Prefects discussion.