The Lansdowne School Council is back with full face-to-face meetings for the autumn term. Each week two representatives from each class come together. The meetings are chaired by Head of School, Mr Juckes.
We’ve already received some great feedback from staff members. They are very impressed with the plans and ideas that School Council has for the months ahead. All ideas are considered by the school management team. School Council is responsible for some real changes around our community.
Our recent meeting had a packed agenda. We started by planning a future video shoot. School Council wants to make a short film that shows some of the new facilities we have in our school. These include the new food tech space, our new art studio, the outdoor trampolines and our brand-new school library.
It was then time for each class representative to put forward their ideas. One suggestion was to use one of the food tech spaces for baking, and another for cooking. Mr Juckes explained a little more about how we use the two food tech spaces in relation to the school timetable. It is important that all year groups get to learn independent skills in our kitchen spaces.
A brilliant suggestion came from another Councillor involving the school benches in the playground. These have a curved appearance. The Councillor suggested they would be ideal to paint in rainbow colours. This is something we hope to take forward. We could incorporate this as part of the Year 13 work experience.
Another Councillor spoke about how much they have enjoyed swimming. They were asked to speak with Mr Lee so we can consider how we can continue with this activity.
A large part of the meeting was then taken up talking about possible school trips. We already have many art trips planned for the term ahead. It is important that our trips support our ongoing learning.
Councillors came up with some more suggestions for after-school clubs. One great idea was to invite some local actors to help out the students in the drama after-school club.
There was also some discussion about possible new playground equipment. Everyone agreed that the big bikes are a great addition. One of the Councillors suggested mapping out a dedicated route around the school playground. This could include signs and a zebra crossing. Mr Juckes mentioned that we are hopeful of taking some of the confident cyclists out around the Low Traffic Neighbourhood in our community.
The discussion then looked further ahead towards Christmas. It’s never too early to start planning! Some talk was put aside for the Landsdowne Winter fair.
A very mature conversation took place about online access and which websites we can access safely at Landsdowne School.
The final agenda item looked at the end of term cinema events. It was agreed that a wider choice of films will be made available. This might include a main screening in the school gym, as well as smaller screenings around different classrooms.