At the Academy we believe that pupils should have the fullest participation possible in the way the school works. We have Year Councils for every year, and an overall Student Leadership Council to co-ordinate the other Councils. The Student Leadership Council is very active and has undertaken several projects on behalf of the Academy.

What the Councils do

We listen to any concerns students might have regarding the school and how it can be improved. Our projects are focused on benefiting the school as a whole.

Our Projects

Student Leadership Council

• Review and change school Anti-Bullying structure.

• Possible ideas include a box where students post their concerns and also an email service.

• Start up a Student Newsletter, this will go out every half term and will not just be from the Student Leadership Council it will also include have Editors, columnists, cartoonists who are not in any councils.

• We have also got the Suggestion Box in the Atrium where we will also get ideas for any other projects.

• Assist Year 8 Council with their School Dinner Projects and also regularly review the catering and have meeting with them.

• We have been taking part in the  Samaritans Shoe Box Appeal. So far, we have filled 70 shoeboxes.

• We are becoming members of The Southwark Youth Panel, and will have a role in helping regenerate Southwark.

• We are also taking part in the interviews of the new staff intake.

• We want to have regular meetings with PaFotA so they can have a more active involvement with students.

• Every member of the Year Councils and Student Leadership Council are having School Council UK training on January 9th 2007.

• And we are also trying to book a team building trip e.g. Go Karting but are having difficulty finding funding for this.

Eco Council

Throughout this year the Eco Council has been furthering its mission to make the school more eco – friendly. We have raised the awareness by giving presentations to all the years in the school, to teach the importance of the environmental issues surrounding our school and the outside world. The Eco–Council has eight members who range from Year 7 to Year 10.

Some of the things we have done this year and last year are:

• Won £2000 for the school in the LSEA and won the bronze Eco Schools Award
• Been to primary schools and given short presentations about how they can be environmentally friendly
• Made students as well as teachers more aware of recycling and how they can help by doing assemblies and ‘How to be an Environmentally Friendly Teacher’ booklets
• Given recycled products as rewards for the reward point system
• Got a wormery and compost bin
• Made displays to inform people of what we're doing
• Recycled paper, glass, cans, plastic, clothes, ink cartridges and mobile phones

Although we have made some exceptionally improvements in the space of 1 year, there is still room for more changes. We are:

• Making a Wildlife area, orchard, pond and vegetable patch which is going to be maintained by SEN
• Winning the Eco School green flag, and we intend to be the first school in Southwark to do so
• Organising a PSHE lesson on “An Inconvenient Truth
• Getting a grant from Breathing Places
• Changing the school's energy to green energy
• Encouraging everyone in the school to take part in the ‘ICount’ initiative
• Changing the school's taxi company to Green Tomato Cars, an eco-friendly company
• Giving a scrap paper box to every class
• Recycling Christmas cards, batteries and spectacles, as well as our regular paper, mobile phone, printer cartridge and CD/DVD recycling
• Emailing newsletters home

Our diary so far this year includes:

• 1st November-LSEA Inset day
• 24th November- Visit to Alma Primary school
• 29th November-Waste Audit
• 30th November- Met with officials from The City of London
• January 15th-Home Office Visit

Year 7 Council

The Year 7 Council’s project is after school clubs. We have given a questionnaire to each student. The questions include; ‘Do you like the current selection of after school clubs?’ and ‘Which new after school clubs would you like?’

Once we have collected all the results we are going to present our findings to Mrs Job who will then look and take action on the information.

Year 8 Council

Our project is School Lunches.

Our aim is to introduce more cultural foods to the menu. For example African, Asian, Moroccan and Chinese. This could be done via a cultural week every term or a different culture’s food once a week e.g. every Thursday.

We will do this by having a meeting with the Head Chef and speaking to him about our ideas.

Year 9 Council

We are focusing on raising money for Comic Relief via Red Nose Day.

We are currently brainstorming on appropriate fundraising ideas and are aiming for a maximum of 5 events.

Year 10 Council - Travel Plan

When we got the grant of £7700 for the travel plan last year we were ecstatic. We looked at various different ideas regarding what we would like to spend the money on. We came to the conclusion that a cage around the bike racks in our school would be suitable as we are currently not allowed to use the bike racks because they are vulnerable to damage and theft.

Year 10 Council - Talent Show

The Talent Show last July was a great success and a significant achievement for the Year 10 Council. It included 12 fantastic acts and raised around £300 for Great Ormond Street Hospital. It was enjoyed by over 200 audience members and we are planning another Talent Show for next July.