1. How was the investiture different from ours? How did you feel when you were there?

Is
there anything that you liked about their investiture?
They did not introduce all members of their student council, but instead inducted them by
departments. They have an investiture theme, and so speeches and music were based on that
theme . Besides a school tour, at the end of the investiture, they sat us down
for a council exchange and provided us with specific questions to discuss in groups, plus
they had a feedback form.
I felt surprised at the differences but I enjoyed myself very much. There are many learning points we can
take away from their investiture for our future investitures. I feel like our investitures could also centre
around a new theme every year like theirs (other than our school theme, as the student body would have
heard so many speeches based on the school theme). This would make our entire investiture more
focused and interesting. I also liked their school tour very much. According to the student leaders there,
one of their departments carries out training sessions for all student councillors for school tours, so the
student leaders were all very well-versed with facts and stories about their schools history and culture.
2. Did you have conversations with anyone?
a. What did you learn from them? (e.g. lead board structure, their job
scopes, initiatives etc.)
During the networking session after the investiture, we had the opportunity to talk to the councillors, about
the role of Student Council in school, as well as the specifics of their job scopes and structures. As
Dunham has a student council rather than a prefectorial board, and furthermore had implemented a new
system of integrating previously disparate boards, the council had a much broader role compared to PB.
For instance, the Executive President did not merely lead the board, but also carried out various initiatives
for the student body as a whole, somewhat comparative to Congress role in RGS. They also had a rather
different focus in work, where most of the services PB offers to the school are given over to the Students
Services Centre in Dunman, and discipline is also largely enforced by teachers only; instead councillors
were more focused on coming up with projects and initiatives that bridge the gaps between the student
population and their board, as well as encouraging school spirit and a stronger sense of belonging. Also,
because of the change in system from the previous separation between the Junior High and Senior High
councils, as well as the segregation between class comm, cca leaders, and council, to the new One
Council system, there was also a change in the boards recruitment. Previously, students interned at
council much the way our SLTs do, and then they were selected to join the board; now, they had to run for
elections in year 3, and at year 5, they had the option of continuing in council without re-elections, or
leaving the board but rerunning if they decided to continue afterwards. However, the councillors that we
talked to pointed out that this meant year 1 students not only elected year 3 councillors but also year 5
ones, and the degrees of separation between the batches, as well as the size of the student body electing
the council members, could mean that the candidates faced even more pressure than they usually did,
and that perhaps some of the newer students might not be best placed to elect older councillors, thus
possibly making this a pitfall in the system.
3. Is there anything that you have learnt from this investiture and would like to share with
anyone else?
I think that one thing we learnt from the investiture is that different board structures suit different schools
and there is no such thing as a one size fit all solution. For example, while both RGPB and Dunmans
High Schools council have similar board structures (as in they are all split into departments), there are
more departments in their council and their departments cover a wider scope than what RGPB covers.
This is mainly because while Dunmans High School has only 1 lead board, RGS has 4 different lead
boards, as mentioned in the above question. However, due to the broader role they play, there are some

aspects that they cannot cover, such as discipline, which they pass to the teachers to administer. In
addition, as mentioned by one of the facilitators there, it also means that their roles are not as specific as
ours. Each department has a broader scope to cover and sometimes their jobscopes tend to overlap.
However, while this system works well in Dunman High, it may not work as well in RGS due to there being
4 different lead boards, each with a different focus. In this case, it would be more beneficial for us to be
more specific in our jobscopes so as to maximise the manpower available. In addition, as RGPB is
relatively smaller in size as compared to Dunman Highs Council, it would be more efficient for us to have
more specific roles.
More than that, I think one of the main key takeaways I had from the investiture was that all the student
councillors were relatively well- versed in the history of the school and were able to eloquently explain
many of the main sites of the school. I think that was something that we can all learn from, as through
their confidence and knowledge, we could clearly see their pride for the school. It definitely makes a good
impression on visitors touring around their school.