From the Principal #130
26th November 21
As we head towards the end of term, the Student Council continue to work hard for all students. We’ve put together a brief update to keep you all in the loop; we look forward to even more after the Christmas break!
The Academic team have been working hard to try and improve the learning experience for all at DLD. Being students ourselves we know first-hand how important our studies are, but also the challenges that come along with it. Therefore, we made it our mission to identify and try to resolve many of these issues. One of our approaches to this was helping to construct the Learners’ Survey. This provided students with the opportunity to voice any concerns and offer feedback on their learning experiences. One of our favourite initiatives this term was the introduction of the Academic Drop-in Sessions. This allowed us as the members of the Academic team, to help our fellow students with various tasks such as their personal statements, organisational skills and revision techniques. Next term, we hope to introduce some exciting new things such as academic events and further developing our drop-in sessions.
This term, the Charity team worked with the Inclusion and Diversity representative to host a doughnut bake sale. This was in aid of the Sutton Trust who support children with different social-economic backgrounds to give them better educational opportunities. In October, we rolled out the Christmas food trolley; thank you to everyone who has donated so far. Black History Month saw a range of events and speakers, led in part by our Inclusion and Diversity representative, and this month we also introduced the Winter Coat drive for the homeless. We are looking forward to the end of term and celebrating Christmas Jumper Day with schools up and down the nation.
During the Autumn term, the Events team worked on organising the Boarders’ Halloween Party with the Houseparents, and helped the Friends of Vauxhall Park for the reopening ceremony of Vauxhall Park. For the Christmas celebration, lots of people came together to help decorate the Christmas tree and put up other decorations around the Atrium, whilst enjoying some hot chocolate (with obligatory marshmallows!), mince pies and plenty of Christmas songs. Moreover, we are also organising a Christmas party for all students, to be held in the last week of this term.
Finally, the Wellbeing team would like to thank all students and staff who took part in last week’s Odd Socks Day, celebrating Anti-Bullying week. We are glad that as a community, we have been able to raise awareness and spread kindness with the theme of this year’s anti-bullying week “One Kind Word”. The video we made with students and members of staff, all saying a kind word about someone, was a great opportunity for us to celebrate and embrace our core values of kindness, tolerance, and respect. As the week came to an end, we also received many responses to the Wellbeing survey and will be sharing feedback to students next term, including any updates or changes made as a result of your feedback. We are also happy to announce that we will be hosting a workshop with our Head of Wellbeing, Myles Blair and starting our drop-in sessions after the Christmas break, so look to hear from us soon!
Charlotte, Jessica, Junwoo and Petya, Student Council leads
