School Council

School Council is a key component of the student leadership of the School. It provides an opportunity for all year groups to have their say in how the School is run. It is led by Sixth Form students who are in charge of organising and running the meetings, including chairing and taking the minutes.

School Council meetings are held once every half-term during a working lunch in the Orchard Room. Representatives from each year group attend, together with Mrs Bedford in her role as the Director of Students. Each meeting focuses on a topic in school but also includes any other issues that have been brought to reps by their year group. Recent topics have included Chapel, the House System and Personal Development. To ensure that everybody gets a chance to input their ideas, reps organise questionnaires to be sent round their year groups and upload their feedback onto a shared document. This feedback is discussed at the meeting and the minutes are sent round to the whole school and to Mrs Dougall. Reps also talk about the actions taken from the meeting the following term in their section assemblies.

Last year, new sub-committees were introduced to focus on topics that can’t be resolved in one meeting. They also allow for greater student participation in School Council. The current sub-committees are:

• The Environmental Committee which aims to make the School more environmentally sustainable and students more aware. For example, working with Olivier to research and introduce ways to cut food waste in School.
• The Sport Committee which aims to make sport more accessible and enjoyable for everyone, so that students can leave St Helen’s with positive attitudes towards health and fitness.
• The Personal Development (PD) Committee which focuses on giving students a better understanding of mental health issues.