Since joining EIC in September 2020, I have been very impressed by the quality of student leadership here. Despite being a small college, there are many students here with excellent leadership qualities - students who have a genuine desire to make a difference and the effort and motivation to turn their ideas into action.

As in every school, it is always a sad time when we say goodbye to one Student Council Chair but, equally, there is always a feeling of excitement about what the new leadership will bring. On behalf of the whole College, I would like to thank Haboon for her leadership. As Chair, Haboon brought a charitable emphasis to the Council, and she was instrumental in running projects like our letters to the homeless appeal, as well as re-introducing our collection for Ealing Food Bank. Haboon will now be stepping down to focus on the final few months of her A level studies, and we wish her all the best.

The Student Council will now have two co-Chairs, Umberto and Hasan. Hasan was chosen for his dedication as the longest-standing member of the Council. He has a strong devotion to charity, excellent communication skills and a real drive to get things done. Hasan will be working together with Umberto. Umberto only joined the College in September, but he has made a huge impression in this short space of time. Umberto has a desire to bring everyone in college together and to enhance student life by introducing more trips and events, and he also shares Hasan’s commitment to charitable work and has outstanding organisational skills.

Umberto and Hasan have already spearheaded two projects. Firstly, they wrote our Charter against Sexual Harassment. The disturbing revelations from the Everyone’s Invited website did not touch EIC directly, as we were not named as one of the schools where sexual harassment had occurred. However, no school can remain complacent, so the Student Council developed a set of clear guidelines for all students to follow, and this was agreed and signed by all form classes. These guidelines emphasise the fact that, thankfully, we as a society have moved on from trivialising harassing comments as “just banter”.

The second project is our trip to Navrtar. Many of our GCSE students have signed up for an evening of fighting virtual reality zombies, and I can’t wait to join them. School trips provide a wonderful way for the students to develop friendships and discover new experiences, and I hope that the Student Council will organise many more.