Hi Rrahim, welcome
A white light solar filter will allow the observing of the sun's disc and sunspots. If Venus or Mercury were happening to pass in front of the sun (and such transits are well advertised in advance), such a filter would be excellent.
Nothing else can be seen. Perhaps some surface mottling, but no prominences at the sun's limb.
But sunspot activity is (finally!) slowly building up from the long solar activity minimum we have had. Maybe next year it will have plenty of spots to observe. What would be useful would be to observe over several days and see the Sun's rotation - perhaps students can draw what they see over a week and then try to estimate the rate of rotation of the Sun?
Making your own with solar film is the cheapest way.
Otherwise, buy a solar filter. Thousand Oaks' filters are good:-
http://www.myastroshop.com.au/produc...ar-filters.asp
With your 8" reflector, you don't need a full aperture filter. Buy one with a small off-axis aperture - that will do.
Lots of safety issues, eg. ensure the front of your finderscope is covered. Ensure the solar filter cannot fall off (wind?) or be knocked off easily. To locate the sun, move the dob while watching its shadow on the ground behind - until it is casting the minimal shadow - then you should be close.