The Halcyonite

By Felix and Ezra, with additional reporting from Ash

On September 30th, the student body gathered to vote for their next Student Council. After a round of speeches, members were chosen. We were able to secure interviews with 4 of the 5 members and their advisor, Ms Stoneman. The following explores their thoughts and plans for the upcoming year. 

“Nima has already put into place some organisation things that help him,” she said. “He set up a voice chat for meetings. He has a very clear agenda, and in the meetings that we’ve had so far, he has stayed on track, he’s been very efficient [and] he’s done a great job so far.”

President: Nima

       The Halcyonite spoke to President Nima for an interview about his thoughts and goals after assuming the position of President of Halcyon’s Student Council. 

       He began by explaining his goals to open up the Student Council to the students, and make it available for anyone to participate in. 

       “My plans are to bring the students that are not directly involved in the Student Council, and give them more involvement,” he said. “For example [the Heads of Communications] will be giving direct updates to all of the students. In past years, the Student Council has been very disconnected from the general student populace, and we aim to improve involvement and the relationship between the student population and the Student Council. I aim to be more involved in the student community, instead of the Student Council being isolated from everyone.” 

We went on to ask Nima about any possible obstructions he envisions in his way. He explained that “[We have] 5 members in the Student Council this year who will all collaborate to overcome these challenges [as well as] our wonderful supervisor Ms Stoneman, who works very hard to make the Student Council as productive as possible.”

Nima also explained that he and his co-members have been in close contact with the senior leadership team, and that they have expressed their willingness to “help us as much as possible.” 

Next, Nima spoke about his planned efforts towards bettering the situation of the students, as well as how he plans to address problems they often bring up. 

“We will try to get the students what they want, but we also think clarity is important, for example the kettle is something that has been promised many times, and nobody has received any updates on the issue since. Instead, we will make sure that the responses we get from [the Senior Leadership Team] and the process we go through will be known to students. We are going to do our absolute best, but most importantly that process and how hard we’re working will be available to students, and their feedback and suggestions will always be taken into consideration.” 

Nima also went over how he believes that his extensive experience in the Student Council will benefit his effectiveness this year. 

“I have a lot of experience, I’ve been at the school a long time, and through grade 6, 7, and 8 I acted as a grade representative. [In] grade 9 I was Head of Student Voice. So every single year I’ve had involvement in the Student Council. This isn’t a new concept for me, it’s simply more work, and the next step up from what I’ve done previously.” 

Finally, Nima spoke on his working relationships with his fellow members. 

“Vasily, the man who brings me my coffee,” he said, “is also in my grade which makes communication much easier. Also, Sufia is just a grade below, whilst Sophie and Alina are just a year above us, so the Student Council is quite close… This means that there’s no large age gaps to differentiate our opinions and what we think is realistic and what not, which helps us see eye to eye, and communicate effectively.”

“If [the Student Council decides] to do away with the grade reps, Vasily’s job would be to oversee the representatives and try to increase the amount of student representation, which may tie him and the student voice role together, so it’ll be interesting to see how they navigate that cross-over between roles.”

-Ms. Stoneman

Vice President: Vasily

         The newly elected Vice President of our Student Council sat down with one of Halcyonite’s writers for an interview outlining his platform, and detailing his plans and aspirations. When asked about his plans for the future he began by touching on his new plan for “club reps” over grade reps, stating that he aimed to improve the system of student representation. His second point was about “making Halcyon part of the UKSSN, also known as the United Kingdom Sustainability network. It is an eco-network that joins schools in the UK.”

           Joining such an organisation would open up Halcyon School to collaborate with others whilst reaching for the ever important goal of sustainability. Vasily also stated his plans to bring Mock COP into our school. Mock COP is a mock conference in which hundreds of students attend to speak on climate change, equality, and mobilisation towards goals formed during the conference. The event unites young climate activists, amplifies young voices, and, as Vasily pointed out, “opens up new service opportunities.”

            We next asked Vasily about roadblocks that may prove calamitous for his efforts.

“Some roadblocks could potentially be lack of space, resources, and things like that,” he said. “If there is something we really want to bring, and something a lot of students want, then [it is] possible to achieve [it], as long as you address [it] correctly.” 

Vasily also explained how he plans to improve certain aspects of the school. 

“There are certain things, like off campus, that have already been pushed to their limits,” he said. “Grade 6, for example, are too young to be unaccompanied outside of the school, not even mentioning how many teachers and parents would disagree with it being allowed.” 

He went on to highlight the new Student Council’s plan to rely on feedback, citing last year’s Sports Day. 

“We’re using feedback and suggestions from [the] students themselves to improve future events,” he said, “and will be able to better them in ways that make a difference [and] that will matter to students. Not just [doing work] behind the scenes.” 

Finally, Vasily spoke on his relationships with the fellow council members; “I’m familiar with all of them, and I’ve been at the school for 3 years, so I’m comfortable working with them, and have a pretty good understanding of [the ways] they work. I think that really helps because we can communicate effectively with one another, and know each other’s schedules, so we have that level of understanding that other groups might not have had.”

“Her speech made her seem quite approachable, and she addressed her age quite appropriately, and that the younger kids will see her as quite approachable, and so far older students have had no problem doing so either… She knows what she knows, and she’s confident in herself and the way she presents herself.”

-Ms. Stoneman

Student Voice: Sufia

         The youngest member of our new Student Council, Student Voice Sufia, answered the Halcyonite’s questions over email. Sufia holds no small amount of experience in situations where her voice needs to be heard, and her goals reached. As a member of MUN, and that of multiple committees, she possesses all the skills needed to be a suitable representative of the students at Halcyon. 

         A main goal of hers, she wrote over email, is “taking students’ feedback to help them achieve what they want, and communicating to the required staff members,” and making this work clearly visible and successful. Sufia continued by outlining her plans to face challenges. She emphasised the importance of “clarification and using proper communication” to reach her, and her representee’s goals, giving the example of “explaining to the required staff that the lunch line is an actual issue by clarifying and using multiple students’ voices to explain that some people choose to not come down at all, and provide them with relevant data to help solve or at least improve the issue.” 

The power of majority is one of the strongest tools that the Student Council has, and plans to utilise such an instrument could bring about a great many changes.

Sufia left us with some excitement about the future of the Student Voice. 

“[I have] a lot of points to talk about already,” she said, “so I hope this year is going in the right direction.” 

“I think that finding that way to communicate will be their challenge, how can we better communicate if not through email, and make sure that people will engage. I think that seeing how they work with that will be interesting, and will really prove how they work together and how they can overcome such issues… The two of them are friends who work together well, and I think that they will use that to their best advantage.”

-Ms. Stoneman

Heads of Communications: Sophie and Alina

        Lastly, the Halcyonite approached the two Heads of Communications for an interview. Alina did not respond to our request to comment over email, but we did interview Sophie. Similar to their colleagues, she said, Sophie and Alina aim to improve the “efficiency of communication currently, and [keep] everyone up to date and informed.” 

Their goal is to create a system where students will not have to look hard for updates on the Student Council’s work, and that the information they need is “readily available.”  

Sophie also provided a template of her plans to workaround any constructs that may hinder her platform’s goals. 

“We want to work on getting around those things,” she said. “For example, [the school is] not allowed to put a kettle in the hub because it’s a working space, so they’re looking into similar solutions. [For example,] dedicating a different space where [a kettle] might be possible.” 

Giving us a taste of her current work, Sophie stated, “We’re working on the lunch line. Every year, people complain about [the] food [or] lack of options, etc. Sufia, our Head of Student Voice, has sent out a form to get people’s opinions on the lunch, and that will impact the menu going forward.” 

Sophie left us with a proclamation about her aspirations towards the new representatives. 

“This year’s Student Council is really close in age,” she said, “and we know the other people who are on it, which makes it really easy to work together. [That is] something I’m looking forward to throughout the year.” 

“I’m really excited to work with the new group, I think they have a lot of amazing ideas, and I’m excited to see how things go.”

-Ms. Stoneman

The Halcyonite thanks the Student Council for their time and congratulates them on their new positions.