School Council

The School Council has always been a vital medium through which students are able to voice their opinions here at St Bede’s. Many great changes have recently been made which showcase this quality: food has been greatly improved; internet policies sharpened and Sunday routine for boarders altered for the better. However, what has become increasingly clear over the past few years is that there were several fundamental issues with the School Council system. The School Council has always relied on sessions controlled mainly by teachers, and has not given each student a large enough opportunity to voice their opinions. We wanted our School Council to be run by students, for students. And so, when Liam Lovegrove proposed revolutionizing the system to a more structured, fully-student-run council, cogs were set into motion.
From now on, each House will have five House representatives, one from each year group. These House representatives will meet regularly with their Head of House to discuss any relevant problems and ideas. Heads of Houses will then collect all the information raised throughout the term in these House Council meetings, and sort them into House issues and School issues. All issues relating to the School as a whole can then be brought forward in School Council, which will occur once a term. One House representative will be welcome to join their Head of House at each School Council, and House representatives can choose to share this opportunity throughout the academic year. The School Council will be a completely student-run process, with no teacher involvement. At each council, the Heads of School will collate the issues raised and take further action when appropriate.
This altered School Council system will provide more structured opportunities for students to meet with their School Council representatives and suggest ideas. We wish to raise the profile of the Council within the School and for more students to be involved and aware of the changes being made. We fully expect this new School Council format to be an improvement and a success and we look forward to seeing more students, in particular from younger years, stepping up to the plate and making a real difference at our School!

Eleni Lester
Deputy Head of School

To download a diagram of the new structure click here