Our school needs a listener…

Sofia

Stands up for you,
Dragons!

Your candidate for the student council

A voice
for every class!

My
Strengths

Hi Dragons! You scanned the code on my poster, so here are my ideas in more detail.

They are proposals. None of them has been discussed with the school yet, so nothing on this page is decided. If I am elected, I would like to bring them to the student committee and the school management and see together what is possible.

The first four are the ideas from my poster. After them come three more that I would also like to suggest.

My programme

What I would like to propose.

You are heard

Student Voice Box. An idea box, a QR form and a monthly "You said, we did" board, so you could see what happens to your ideas.

Read the details

You learn for real life

Real-Life Skills Workshop. Four workshops a year on things like money, first aid, CVs and cooking. Students would vote on the topics.

Read the details

You stay smart online

Smart AI, Cyber Security & Media Week. A week about how AI really works and how to keep accounts safe, with a fake-or-real quiz and AI dos and don'ts made together with teachers.

Read the details

We celebrate together

Festival of Culture Day. One afternoon a year where every class could share its food, music, games and languages.

Read the details

The details

The four ideas from my poster, one by one.

My programme · Idea 1

You are heard

Student Voice Box

The idea

We already have class representatives and a student committee. My idea would add one more easy way to reach them: a locked box near the canteen and a short online form you open with a QR code. Once a term there could also be an open forum of about 30 minutes, where anyone can come and share an idea.

The part I like most is what comes after. Every month the committee could put up a "You said, we did" board. It would show what students asked, what the committee passed on to the school and what the answer was, also when the answer is no.

What students could get

  • One more simple way to share an idea, also for students who don't like to speak in front of others.
  • You could see what happened to your idea.
  • The school would get student ideas in one tidy list, which makes them easier to look at and answer.

What it would need

  • The school would have to agree where the box goes and what the form asks.
  • A box with a lock, and the form tool the school already uses.
  • Two committee members who read everything every week.
  • A space on the notice board.
  • Five minutes in each meeting with the school management.
  • One rule: ideas are about topics, never about a student or a teacher by name.

My programme · Idea 2

You learn for real life

Real-Life Skills Workshop

The idea

We learn a lot in our lessons. This idea would be an extra on top of that: four voluntary workshops a year, at lunchtime or after school, about everyday things. For example how to plan a budget, first aid basics, how to write a CV and get ready for an internship interview, or how to cook a simple meal.

Each workshop could take 60 to 90 minutes. A guest who knows the topic well would lead it. That could be a parent, a former student, a teacher or a local organisation. Students would vote on the topics.

What students could get

  • Practical skills you can use outside school.
  • Students would choose the topics themselves.
  • A one-page handout after each workshop for everyone, also for those who couldn't come.

What it would need

  • A room with a projector.
  • The school would approve every guest.
  • A short poll to choose the topics.
  • A sign-up form with 25 to 30 places.
  • Maybe help from the parents' association to find guests.
  • For first aid, a certified trainer.

My programme · Idea 3

You stay smart online

Smart AI, Cyber Security & Media Week

The idea

AI is now part of homework, our feeds and our group chats, and it changes fast. My idea is one themed week where students and teachers look at it together.

We could find out how chatbots work and where they get things wrong, how to check if a photo or a news story is real, how to keep our accounts safe, and how to study with AI without letting it do the thinking. It would also be a good moment to go through the school's rules for AI in homework, so everybody knows them.

The week could have class workshops with trainers from outside the school and a fake-or-real quiz in the hall. Students could also make a poster with AI dos and don'ts together with the teachers.

What students could get

  • You would get better at spotting fake photos and fake news.
  • Some simple ways to protect your accounts.
  • Everybody would know the school's rules about AI in homework.
  • The questions students ask during the week could be collected and shared with the school.

What it would need

  • Support from the school management and an ICT teacher.
  • Trainers would have to be booked early. BEE SECURE offers free 90-minute sessions for school classes about fake news and data. They need a projector, internet and a teacher in the room.
  • It still has to be checked if our school can book these sessions.
  • Three or four students to prepare the quiz.
  • Teachers who help with the dos and don'ts poster.

My programme · Idea 4

We celebrate together

Festival of Culture Day

The idea

Look around in any class here and count the countries and the languages. For me that is one of the best things about our school.

My idea is one afternoon a year to celebrate that together. Every class could run a stand with food, music or games. There could be a wall where you say hello in 30 languages, short performances on a stage and a quiz trail that sends you from stand to stand. Every class would do something, so everybody takes part.

If the school already has events like this, the idea could simply be added to them.

What students could get

  • A fun afternoon with the whole school.
  • A chance to meet people from other classes and other years.
  • You could share something from your own country or language, and try things from everybody else.

What it would need

  • A date the school agrees to, for example in the week of Europe Day (9 May).
  • The hall and the yard.
  • One member of staff who coordinates and one representative from every class.
  • The parents' association for the food, following the school's rules about labels and allergens.
  • A sound system and a clean-up team.
  • The day would stay about food, music, games and languages, so that everybody feels welcome.

More ideas

Three more ideas I would like to suggest.

More ideas · Idea 5

You get help

Peer Tutoring Study Club

The idea

Stuck on maths the night before a test? In this idea, older students who are good at a subject would give one hour a week, in a lunch break or after school, to help younger students with homework and tests. It could start with maths, sciences and languages, in the library or a free classroom, with a teacher nearby.

Because there are so many languages in our school, you could also practise French or German with somebody who speaks it fluently. The tutors could get a certificate for their applications.

It would be an extra next to the help our teachers already give.

What students could get

  • Help from somebody who did the same subject not long ago.
  • A way to practise a language with a real person.
  • Tutors would get a certificate for their applications.

What it would need

  • A room for one or two fixed times a week, and a teacher or the librarian who supervises.
  • 10 to 15 volunteer tutors, recommended by their subject teachers.
  • A sign-up sheet for each subject.
  • A 45-minute briefing for the tutors with one rule: explain it, don't do the homework for them.
  • A certificate signed by the school management.

More ideas · Idea 6

Nobody starts alone

Welcome Buddy Programme

The idea

Remember your first day here? In this idea, every new student could get a volunteer buddy from a higher year. That includes students who arrive in the middle of the year from another country. If possible the buddy would speak the same language.

The buddy would give a tour, sit with the new student at lunch in the first week and explain how the canteen, the lockers, the timetable and the clubs work. After one month the buddy would check in again. A one-page welcome guide written by students could help too.

It would be an extra next to the welcome that the school and the teachers already give.

What students could get

  • New students would have another student to ask from day one.
  • A friendly face at lunch in the first week.
  • Buddies would get to know people from other years and other countries.

What it would need

  • The school office and the class teachers would tell the committee when a new student arrives. Only the first name and the class.
  • 15 to 25 volunteer buddies who cover the main languages.
  • A one-hour briefing with the school counsellor or educator.
  • The welcome guide.
  • One welcome lunch table every term.

More ideas · Idea 7

You stay calm

Exam Calm Wellbeing Week

The idea

Two or three weeks before the big tests, there could be one week that helps us prepare calmly. My idea is short lunchtime sessions about how to plan your revision, how to sleep enough and how to focus, led by the school counsellor and by older students.

A quiet study room could be open at every break, and older students could write their tips on a "how I revise" wall. There could also be one activity where we move, like a walk or a sports hour. It would stay light and practical.

It would be an extra next to the support that the school and the counsellors already give.

What students could get

  • Revision tips from students who already did these tests.
  • A quiet place to study at break.
  • A one-page revision planner for every student.

What it would need

  • It would be organised together with the school counsellor or the psycho-social team. They would lead everything about wellbeing, and the committee would help to organise it and tell people about it.
  • A quiet room.
  • A PE teacher for the activity where we move.
  • Printed tips.
  • The school management would have to approve the timetable.
Good to know…

Everything on this page is a proposal. None of it has been discussed with the school or checked by anybody yet.

Our school already does a lot for us. These ideas are meant as small extras on top of that, and I would be happy to change them after talking with the committee, the teachers and the school management.

I can't say which ideas will happen. What I can say is that I would bring them to the table and tell you what comes out of it.

Vote for me 26–28 October

A voice for every class!