Outstanding Experiences

South Island School has a well established prefect system in which our Year 12 and Year 13 students are assigned key positions of responsibility to help with the effective and efficient day to day running of the school. The prefect team is selected through a rigorous application process that concludes with a final interview for a selected short-list with the Principal, School Council Members and other senior staff. The prefect team assists staff with daily duties around the school, with Parent’s Evenings, School Concerts and other performances and events. They form an integral part of the leadership of the School and attend School Council, Student Council and PTA Meetings to represent the student body.

The South Island School Student Council is the main body for student voice at SIS. It aims to ensure all students have a means of expressing their viewpoints regarding student life and the school’s running.

All Tutor Groups have a Tutor Representative who attends House Council Meetings, where they discuss raised issues on a more focused and intimate platform. This representative is chosen by his or her peers, and is also charged with facilitating discussion in his or her tutor group in response to recent developments.

Moreover, 3 representatives from each house and 4 representatives from Bauhinia Family are also chosen to sit on Student Council for a year. In addition to a representative from the Making a Difference (MaD) Council, a representative from the School Newspaper and the two Chairs, Adam Zoen and Ciara Hablützel, this totals to a council of 26 members.

Student Council has an active role in many facets of the school’s running, such as: catering, uniform, facilities, staff appointment, charity initiatives and the allocation of funds to student projects.

It is unsurprising that the Digital Leadership Council (DLC) has grown at pace during the last five years and now comprises nearly fifty students, encompassing all seven year groups. The importance of digital literacy was thrown into sharp relief during 2020-21 with the entire school forced into online learning. Subsequently, the DLC adopted ‘privacy’ as the focus of our 2021 Internet Safety Week, a student-led initiative designed to provide differentiated resources for teaching in each year group.

The Digital Leadership Council engages with several initiatives, which includes privacy, online safety, esports, tech-support and tech reviews. The DLC also has a regular podcast, entitled The Tech Bubble, which includes teachers, alumni, guest speakers and student guests too, all focused on technological themes. This can be found via Anchor, Spotify etc. The DLC has link projects with two of our primary schools: Bradbury and Quarry Bay, with a focus on supporting issues of Digital Citizenship. Finally, in line with the International Society for Technology (ISTE) Student standards, which are used for helping to define Digital Literacy across the entire English Schools Foundation, the DLC helps promote these skills wherever possible through internationally recognised events such as the Hour of Code and Girls in ICT Day.

The Sustainability Council (SusCo) is South Island’s dedicated environmental awareness group that has been running for years – it is committed to taking steps that drastically alter our school’s dependence on non-renewable energy and things damaging to the environment. The group is made up of students from a range of years that all lead projects they are passionate about, enabling them to make a difference both inside and out of the school.

Throughout its existence, the Sustainability Council (SusCo) has undertaken a multitude of projects. A list of current/past projects the Sustainability Council (SusCo) has collaborated on:

• Textbook Marketplace

In 2022 we successfully launched the schools first textbook marketplace where students are able to buy and sell second hand textbooks within the South Island School community. There is always a demand for this and by contributing to this economical and environmental sustainability project we have been able to support students academically as well as reduce the demand on resources that go into the production of books. 

• Nature Works Hong Kong Programme

In 2021 a core group of senior school students was involved in the NatureWorks programme. They were highly successful in their research and proposal and were recipients of $10,000 which will contribute to a pilot scheme of using and replacing traditional whiteboard markers with the sustainable ‘Woody Stabbilo’ markers.

• Sustainability Audit

Earlier in the year SusCo collaborated with the CKP, corporate advisors, in order to gain a genuine understanding of the school’s environmental impact. This looked at a variety of areas including energy and waste so that we could identify areas to focus on moving forward into the next academic year. This was a part of an ESF wide scheme which will enable us to compare and learn from other schools within our wider community.

• Sustainability within the Curriculum

SusCo has spent the academic year collaborating with Heads of Department to audit the level of sustainability content within their syllabus, we hope to use this to promote a greater integration of sustainability within and across all departments so that it becomes increasingly embedded in the school ethos and values.

• Entrak System

Monitors electricity consumption by the school every day and displays this near the reception and on our VLE homepage so that all students can be reminded of this information.  Negotiated by the ESF Environmental Council and implemented in every school, it sends a strong message about the wasteful usage within the school as it can track consumption down to every classroom. We hope to be able to use Entrak to build further awareness within the school about our energy consumption and how we can reduce this.

• Recycling Bins

The Sustainability Council (SusCo) helped the school to purchase and install recycling bins in every classroom as well as every common area of the school – this has not only increased the amount of waste recycled, thereby making us a greener school, but also reminds the students of our duty to the planet.