The Phoenix - Hills Road Sixth Form College

2 Local News 34th April 2014 | The Phoenix The Phoenix | 4th April 2014Local NewsMeet the New Student Council ContinuedAlice French: “Initially, my decisionto run for Student Councilwas a bit of an impulse one,and I almost didn’t hand in mynomination form. In the end I decidedthat I might as well go forit, because I do strongly believethat student participation in therunning of College is vital to ensurethat everyone gets the maximumpossible out of their timehere. As Vice Chair, my main jobwill be to support Stephen andhelp out with the running of theCouncil, but I’d also like to workwith the Chair to carry out someof my own policies. We hope tostart recording lunchtime lecturesto upload to Sharepoint assoon as possible, because lots ofstudents would benefit from havingimproved access to the majortalks. I would also like to followthrough my plans for some kindof Annual Speakers’ Week, wherefor five consecutive lunchtimesthe Council would organise talksAlex Moor: “Hi everyone! A few ofmy main aims for next year are towiden representation of the NUSat college, and make sure everyoneknows who they are and whatthey do - plus what you can dowith an NUS card! In addition tothis I would also like to increasepolitical awareness surroundingthe issues relating to us, andwhat we can do to change them.”from interesting and unusualspeakers, for example a pilot orchildcare specialist. I look forwardto working with Ram, thenew Charities Officer, to increasethe number of fundraising eventsin College and organise biggerevents to mark special occasionssuch as Children in Need. I willof course also keep my promiseto address the issue of the brokenlock in the girls’ toilets!”Ellie Raine: “My name is Ellie,and I am your new welfare officer.My aim this year is to fill thisposition with as much enthusiasmand commitment as I possiblycan, and to make sure thatall students enjoy their time hereat Hills Road. My role mainly involvesmaking sure students areall okay, and dealing with anyissues that come up related towelfare, equality and diversity.”Jola Maczkiewicz: “As treasurer,I will strive to carefully andsensibly manage the StudentCouncil’s finances in order tomake the money that we raisemoney go further. I will strive toensure that the Council’s fundsare allocated fairly, representthe wants of a wide studentbody and that the policies thatwe implement will be significantin making your time at Hillsmore enjoyable. I also hope toseek new opportunities for additionalfunding and sponsorshipso that we have a larger budgetLucy Williams: “My role involveslooking after our social areasand making the college moreenvironmentally sustainable.My future policies involve:1. Making sure there is a recyclingbin in every classroom andstudy space for waste paper.2. Introducing energy-savinglight bulbs to each room.3. Increasing the amount of renewableenergy sources we useat school by purchasing more solarpanels.4. Raising the awareness of onlineeditions of The PhoenixNewspaper in order to reducepaper waste and usage of ink.”to work with when organisingstudent events- this will meanthat we will be able to affordbetter acts and larger venues!”Claudia Colding: “I’m Claudiaand I’m the new CommunicationsOfficer. My main aim forthis year is to make sure thatstudents are regularly kept upto date with everything thathappens in and around the college,especially information regardingsocial events, college activities,societies and lectures.”Dong Zheng: “Although it’s notthe secretary’s role to come upwith policies , I do have a fewthat I would like to put forward.1. Live sports on TV around thecollege during major events suchas the World Cup and Wimbeldon2. More bikesheds - so bikes arenot damaged in bad weather.George Smith: “My job is to organisekey social events for thestudents at Hills Road, makingthem fun for all, with good musicand entertaining line-ups.My main aim is to organise bigger,louder and messier events.”to cut the costs of teaching, unavoidablyaffecting their desirabilityto potential students.Research carried out bythe Sixth Form Colleges Associationrevealed that FreeSchools, which can be set up byany parent or local body andare not required to have qualisuethat will not only directlyimpact teachers, but alsostudents, as Dr o’Donnell explains“the government cuts oftenlead to staff cuts in schools,which means that there are lessteachers to give students the individualattention that they need.Because each teacher will haveto do more marking, they areless likely to give regular testswhich isn’t fair on the students.”“The particular issue withHills Road is that we are teachingmore and more students inone classroom, now some classeshave up to 24 kids and this hasan impact on the workload ofteachers.” Sixth form collegessuch as Hills and Long Roadhave been particularly impactedby recent cuts, receiving lessfunding than sixth-forms withinsecondary schools. The extent ofthe damage that proposed cutswill have on the future of HillsRoad is unclear, however, KateSolomon, of the English departmentand a member of the NUT,predicts that the effects maybe severe. “Since 2010 we havegone from an annual fundingper student of almost £6000 peryear, to the £4,000 currently beingoffered, which means puttingmore students in each class andteaching more sets.” Kate believesthat this will have a detrimentaleffect on the quality of3. Cafeteria or the Costa opentill 4:30 pm , so the studentscan socialise or buy snacks.I will also try to improve communicationbetween the studentsand the school , as thiswill enhance the hills roadexperience for the students.”“This student council will bemaking huge changes to the waysocieties function in the college,and as societies officer I shall beheavily involved in these changes.I hope to introduce a moreunified collection of societieshere in the college, the currentlist location at the myhrsfc webpageincludes many now-defunctsocieties and I hope to eventuallyrectify this with a clear, definitivelist of all the student-runsocieties here at hills road, theirleaders, their respective meetingTeachers on Strike Continuedteaching. “The joy of this job is inthe daily experience of personalengagement and intellectual debatewith enthusiastic and intelligentstudents. And I doubtthis experience is sustainablein the current funding climate.”Funding for ‘fundedguided learning hours’, suchas enrichment or tutorial programmes,has been cut by 75%,which has had a serious impacton the activities and facilitiesthat sixth-form colleges canprovide. “Our students enjoy aremarkably wide range of subjectchoices, and extracurricularactivities” explains Kate, “wewant to keep offering all thesethings, but I don’t see how therooms and times for anyone whowishes to become a part of them.I look forward to working withthe other members of the councilover the next year, and creatingthe best Hills Road possible!””maths can work.” Following thechanges from the current government,almost 50% of sixthform colleges have already hadto cut courses due to a lack offunding, whilst the large majority,78%, have had to reducestaffing levels, consequentiallyincreasing class sizes. Sixthform colleges are being forcedinto making significant changesRamganesh Lakshman: “I hopeto do a wide variety of thingsnext year but I’d say my mainaim overall is to get more people(ideally everyone) in the schoolinvolved in fundraising in someway or another. I am hoping tofocus mostly on the big charityevents such as Comic/Sport reliefand Children in Need and gettingstudents involved in these.fied teachers, can receive up to£39,000 of government fundingper student, a staggering numberin comparison to the £4,000budget per student that sixthform colleges receive. For Kate,this is an extremely importantissue that she believes studentsand parents need to be awareof. “I suspect that most parentsand students don’t know aboutthe scale of funding cuts thathave taken place in the last fouryears in our sector, or its absurdities.I think few people wouldfind these figures logical or fair –but then few people know aboutthem. I’m hoping the strike willhelp to redress this.” These figurescan be put further into perspectivewhen it is consideredthat £62million has been spentcreating nine free schools, whicheducate just 1,577 pupils betweenthem, less than the numberof pupils at Hills Road alone.The general motionamongst the striking teachersis that they seek communicationand answers from the government,to prevent the welfare ofteachers and students at schoolsand colleges across the countryfrom spiralling into decline.As Dr o’Donnell summarises,“our dispute with Michael Goveis that he won’t listen to us, ortalk to us, and treats us withcontempt and indifference.”