Student Council
The Student Council is a group of students who act as the official voice of the student body.
We pride ourselves on having a culture that is built upon freedom and equality, where the student voice is heard on matters of importance such as how the school is run.
The student council is spilt into two sections: Faculty Cabinets and whole academy Student Council. The Council discusses and decides on issues that matter to the students and are important to the whole Academy, giving students the chance to make a real difference to the smooth running of Harris City Academy Crystal Palace. It encourages students to be active citizens by building self-confidence, learning how to treat others, making decisions and developing leadership responsibility on behalf of the student cohort.
Faculty Cabinets
A huge congratulations to all our successful candidates for 2023-2024.
The Faculty Cabinets feed into the overall Student Council (see below). They meet every three weeks, chaired by the Faculty President and overseen by Ms Owusu (Assistant Principal) and their faculty coordinator/director.
To be elected to the Faculty Cabinet students must first be nominated in their tutor groups. The three top nominees are then entered into a ballot, with the election usually taking place in October.
Cabinet roles
The two winning candidates for each year group in each faculty make up the cabinet members. During the first cabinet meeting each member has the opportunity to pitch for the President role. Another round of voting takes place within the cabinet. The winner is elected as the President on a year’s term and the runner up is automatically elected the Vice-President.
The other roles within the cabinet are outlined below and each role has specific responsibilities.
- Secretary for Quality of Education
- Secretary for Personal development
- Secretary for Culture for Learning
- Secretary for Equality and Diversity
- Secretary for mental health, well-being, and mentoring
- Secretary for safeguarding
- Secretary for Sports (x2)
- Secretary for RAG
Click HERE to see full details of all the cabinet roles.
Members who represent their faculties in each of these roles form a sub-committee, led by senior prefects from the 6th Form and the academy leadership team. The sub-committee then presents once a year to the academy leadership team and parents' forum. The faculty presidents also present once a term to their faculty to update them on their progress and the Head Students present an update to the academy leadership team once a term.
Head Boy and Head Girl 2022-23
- Edem
- Afra
Student Council
The faculty cabinets feed into the overall whole academy student council. The Student Council is made up of the head students, their deputies and the faculty presidents and vice-presidents. This meets every three weeks and is chaired by the head students and overseen by Ms. Owusu (Assistant Principal). The student council present their progress to the Academy Leadership Team each term.
Prefects
Pictured are the senior prefects for 2022-23.
The Academy offers Year 11 students the chance to take on added responsibility as prefects. Being a prefect is seen as a prestigious role within the Academy and students take part in a highly competitive application process in order to be selected as one of the prefects from their faculty.
Students complete an application form, seek references, and take part in small group assessment tasks and finally an interview. The prefects then represent the student body on duty during break and lunch time, role modelling behaviour, peer mentoring and helping set the culture, as well as assisting during parents' evenings, open evenings, and other external events.
