Summer Newsletter 2013 (pdf) - Bishop Fox's School

Newsletter SUMMER_Layout 1 10/07/2013 11:38 Page 4
STUDENT COUNCIL
It has been another busy year for the Student Council at Bishop
Fox’s. The elected representatives from each tutor group have met
regularly to discuss the important issues of the time.
Representing the student body, they started the year with a SWOT
analysis which was taken to the Senior Leadership Team and the
site team to discuss and inform planning. Also the School Council
had a ballot and chose the school’s charity for 2012-13 Macmillan
Cancer Support, Think Amy Campaign & Children’s Hospice
SouthWest.
Topics included: the use of the hall at lunchtime, the canteen,
reception duty, trips, the Equalities Policy, student voice, ICT
provision and rewards, have been some of the issues that have
been debated. Miss Tonkin and Mrs Robertson have found that
the students are very passionate about improving the experience
at Fox’s and have made sure that their voices have been heard.
Also the school council reps had a session with a focus on the
Ofsted experience from the point of view of the students. We were
very proud of the comments made by the Inspectors from the
meetings that they had with the student body, including a group
of school council representatives.
Well done to all who have been involved this year, speaking up for
their community and making things happen as a consequence.
This is politics at work.
PREFECTS
This is a very busy half term for Year 10 students – including
exams, work experience and the Prefect Application process.
A massive congratulations for the new cohort of prefects who have
been successfully chosen to be prefects for 2013-14. It is an
extremely important job that needs to be done and the cohort of
prefects are positive role models for all students to aspire to.
There are various roles that the prefects fulfil including helping with
reading rebels for KS3 students, wake and shake, supporting
homework club in C1, organising the Careers library, coordinating
practice interviews with Mrs Dalling, doing lunchtime duties,
entertaining the masses in the hall, supporting school events,
guides for parents on Open Evening, meeting and greeting at
Parents’ Evening amongst many others. It is going to be a busy
time – but I can’t imagine that there is a better group of students
to work with!
We have been very proud of the way that the prefects have
conducted themselves so far, this includes the prefect training day
in June. Mr Hudson, a former school governor, used his military
background to give advice to the teams on how to be more
assertive. Miss Pitman and Mr Appleby provided activities that
were fun and helped them work together in teams.
It was a great day and a lot was learnt in preparation to start duties
in September.
NEW HEAD PREFECTS
The new Head Prefects with their specific areas of responsibility
are:
Lucy Gratland (Head Girl and leader of Hall Team)
Jack Scadden (Head Boy and Duty Team Leader)
Coryn Howse (Duty Team Leader)
Will Larkman (Duty Team Leader)
Adrian Lane (Duty Team Leader)
Fahad Hossain (Duty Team Leader)
Lori Barnes (Leader of Careers Team)
Alicia Gudge (Leader of SEN Team)
A big congratulations to the new team. It has been particularly
difficult this year due to the exceptional calibre of the Year 10
prefects.
The selection of Head Prefects is a very rigorous process with the
8 candidates completing a gruelling interview with Mr Scutt and
Miss Tonkin where the various roles are decided. Prior to this
selection the prefects have to fill out an application form which
requires a student sponsor and a staff sponsor to endorse their
application. All of Year 10 have also had the opportunity to vote
for those that have showed real leadership potential on the Prefect
Training Day. Staff have also been given the opportunity to
comment on the applicant’s personal strengths and leadership
skills.
We wish the team the very best for 2013-14; leading a team of
your peers can have its difficulties but we are confident that you
all have the attributes to do your job exceptionally well.
High Standards & High Expectations