Nagle Rice Secondary School, Doneraile, Co. Cork.  Tel: (022) 24500 / Fax: (022) 24586 / email: info@nrss.ie

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Student Council & Amber Flag Committee

The Student Council at Nagle Rice is made up of representatives from every year group.  The Liaison teachers are Mrs Fleming, Mr Coleman and Miss Hennessy.  The Council meets currently at lunch time on Mondays in Room 9.

Aims:

Examples of Student Council Activities to Date:

Initial Training on 29th November 2010:

A few of the main areas members looked at were as follows:

• Functions of the Student Council: Students discussed and learned the various functions of the Student Council. They established that their role is: to listen to the student body and voice their opinions and ideas at meetings, to consult and cooperate with the school community on issue of concern, to investigate the relationship between students and staff and to help and be involved in the planning of school policies.
• The Roles of the Student Council: The Student Council have already elected their officers and so they went through the roles and responsibilities of The Chairperson, The Vice-Chairperson, The Secretary and the P.R. Officer. We also identified the responsibilities of the Student Council members and the Liaison Teacher.
• Meeting: Students discussed the locations and frequency of their meeting and the ground rules for same. Students looked at advice on how to conduct themselves in meetings and work as part of a team.
• Constitution Every Student Council must draw up their own constitution and so the students discussed and constructed their own. The constitution concentrates on areas such as the role of the council, the structure of the council, the elections and term of office, meetings and decision making, code of conduct and the removal of student council members. This will be presented to the board of management who will ratify the constitution.
• Official procedure for meetings and recording information: Students looked at the official procedure for running a meeting. Students learnt the purpose of agendas, minutes and financial reports and they learnt to compile same.
• Relations with the wider school community: Students examined the need for communications with the students, Principal, Vice-Principal, Staff, the Board of Management and the Parents Association. Students discussed the method of communication for each of these.  A few of the main areas members looked at were as follows:
• Functions of the Student Council: Students discussed and learnt the various functions of the Student Council. They established that their role is: to listen to the student body and voice their opinions and ideas at meetings, to consult and cooperate with the school community on issue of concern, to investigate the relationship between students and staff and to help and be involved in the planning of school policies.
• The Roles of the Student Council: The Student Council have already elected their officers and so they went through the roles and responsibilities of The Chairperson, The Vice-Chairperson, The Secretary and the P.R. Officer. We also identified the responsibilities of the Student Council members and the Liaison Teacher.
• Meeting: Students discussed the locations and frequency of their meeting and the ground rules for same. Students looked at advice on how to conduct themselves in meetings and work as part of a team.
• Constitution Every Student Council must draw up their own constitution and so the students discussed and constructed their own. The constitution concentrates on areas such as the role of the council, the structure of the council, the elections and term of office, meetings and decision making, code of conduct and the removal of student council members. This will be presented to the board of management who will ratify the constitution.
• Official procedure for meetings and recording information: Students looked at the official procedure for running a meeting. Students learnt the purpose of agendas, minutes and financial reports and they learnt to compile same.
• Relations with the wider school community: Students examined the need for communications with the students, Principal, Vice-Principal, Staff, the Board of Management and the Parents Association. Students discussed the method of communication for each of these.

Nagle Rice Secondary School was awarded its first Amber Flag for their work to raise awareness of the importance of Positive Mental Health in schools in May 2014. The initiative was brought to the attention of staff and students by Guidance Counsellor Miss O'Leary in October and then was developed by members of the Amber Flag Committee. The school had to set three main aims that would help to raise awareness of mental health in the school. The first task they decided on was the TY Enterprise Programme: TY students set up their own mini-company with the main aim of trying to encourage people to talk about their worries and concerns with family and friends, and what better way to do this than to talk over tea. Hence a range of crockery items were produced, including mugs, cups, teapots etc.  The second task was to invite a Guest Speaker in to talk to us about the importance of Positive Mental Health.  They contacted Martina Ryan from the Cork Mental Health Foundation and she was happy to visit.  The Amber Flag committee would like to thank her for the work she did with in the school.  The Committee found this information very helpful and have now displayed the various resources that they received from Martina on our notice board - this was the third and final task they set out to accomplish. This noticeboard is located in a prime position within the school and is updated on a regular basis by the Amber Flag Committee. The noticeboard displays positive quotes, helplines and positive visual displays along with fundraisers.  The school was successful in achieving its three aims and attended an Awards' Ceremony in the Rochestown Park Hotel in early May where Nagle Rice was one of the very few schools in North Cork to be presented with the Amber Flag. Mental Health promoter Conor Cusack officially raised the flag for the school in September 2014.

The school was delighted to be awarded their 2nd Amber Flag in May 2015 for their ongoing efforts for Mental Health Awareness.

Two Amber Flags for Nagle Rice!