Rebuilding Glyn's Prefect System

I have taken it upon myself to try to give something back to the school. Now, most people have questioned why I would  go off on such an endeavour. Contrary to popular belief, I am not in it just for self-gratification or to have "something for my UCAS"; no, I do this because I genuinely feel that it is an important issue, and is something I can achieve in my twilight months at Glyn.

My team of speech writers and friends already think I'm onto a winner with this, as do senior management of the school. This support I feel is important in getting these plans off the ground and doing it.

My next task will now be to prepare my speeches. It's important to note that it will not be just myself doing this; I have the full support and cooperation from Head Boy Ben Bryant and the two Deputies, Anthony Andrews and Elliot Stammers.

Another interesting side note is that I have now had to resign, although technically I did not resign, I handed over responsibility of the Yearbook Initiative to Tim Winslade, who I feel is more than  suitable for this role. I am going to be concentrating more on Prefect Reform and it would not be fair to not give the yearbook anything less then full attention.

So, without further ado... read my report!

Prefect Reform 2008

Preamble

Last week (w/c 28 January 2008), prefects encountered resistance from a group of year 10s who were asked to remove themselves from the field behind the science block but refused to cooperate with prefect authority. It was only after considerable time was wasted in trying to reason with these individuals that they complied. The Prefect of the Day left the scene early on to continue the duty elsewhere. This brings to light several key deficiencies in the current prefect system and sheds light on why it should be reformed as soon as it is possible to do so. I aim to highlight what is wrong with our system and suggest possible improvements on how we can improve the prefects to better represent the school, uphold its standards and encourage others to be outstanding members of the local community.

The Issue

The issue of the largely-ineffectual prefect system can be said to be rooted in several key areas that I feel are the most evident. This is by no means a comprehensive and complete list, but I feel it is the most obvious and the easiest for us to target for improvement.

• Neglect of the Prefect System over Time: In my lower years, the Prefects were a force to be reckoned with and carried out their duties. Over the course of seven years, it is apparent that the prefect system has been left on “auto-pilot” and this is not ideal as the prefects are not capable of self-preserving and self-enforcing their duties. This could be down to:
  • Increased apathy toward the role from new prefects: new prefects are simply given the role and expected to get on with it. This was most apparent from my perspective with the “second batch” of prefects from 2007.
  • Lack of guidance or training from either the school or previous prefects: The system of getting old prefects to mentor the incoming ones is optimistic but not realistic, as apathy from a particular set of prefects is simply allowed to carry on down and throughout the years. This was most evident in the prefects who were in place from 2006-2007, who reportedly offered little training to the current Year 13 prefects; reportedly all that was said by the outgoing prefects was to “shout at them”. This “training” is ineffectual.
• A two-tier Prefects system: The current prefect system is based upon the introduction of two “waves” or “batches” of prefects, a few weeks after each other. However, the way this system is implemented places a large amount of prestige on the “first batch” of prefects, such as eligibility for the roles of Head Boy, Deputy Head Boy and Prefect of the Day. “Second batch” prefects are also by and large ignored in respect for the interviews and nomination processes for these positions. This creates a sense of undervalue in the second batch, which I feel is unfair and every prefect should be valued the same, no matter when or how they were appointed.
• Prefects spread too thinly: There are too many prefects not bothering to do duty. This leaves those that do show genuine interest as far too-spread out to be an effective force in the school or deal with confrontational situations with larger groups of miscreants. Often duties consist of 2-3 prefects entirely, whereas ideally there should be around three or four groups of 3 prefects patrolling the school.

List of First-Batch-Exclusive activities

Eligibility for the following positions

• Head Boy
• Deputy Head Boy
• Prefect of the Day

Consultancy rights for the following positions

• Head Boy
• Deputy Head Boy

Suggested Remedies

Immediate Plans for Incoming Prefects 2008 - Short Term Remedies

• Educating the lower years of the school in what the prefect system does, how it helps, how the lower school can help the prefects and why prefects are appointed and volunteer themselves. Unlike most talks, it is recommended to not “lecture” the lower school into what they mustn’t do or otherwise present the idea of the prefects in a negative sense, as in order to encourage co-operation. This can be taken further; if it is impressed upon to the Year 7 students that the prefect system is good, and then this view will continue throughout and trickle down in subsequent generations of Year 7s. It may prove more complex to remove entrenched views of apathy and indifference among the Upper Years but I feel we should attempt to do so anyway.
• Educating the lower years of the school in what the prefect system does and how it helps, how the lower school can help the prefects and why prefects are appointed and volunteer themselves. This would be similar to the Lower School education plan, but there are several interesting areas to note:
• Prefect applications are in progress. Therefore, it must be impressed upon those who applied not to take the role for granted, and also to explain opportunities to them that come from having this position
• Encourage those who elected not to become prefects to support those who did in carrying out their duties and not “mock” them for taking initiative.
• Encourage larger numbers of prefects to attend duty on their volunteered days. It would be helpful to explain the merits of doing this.

Long-term Remedies

• Offering more comprehensive training to prefects.
• Staff and Peer review periods held at regular set times during term.
• Dismissal of the current two-tier system. It could be kept to have the two separate sets of prefects for ease of appointing and training, but the Second Batch should be given the right to be considered in the Head Boy process and other First Batch-exclusive areas.

Implementation of this Plan

Speeches and Assemblies

• A speech to all House Assemblies designed and authored to carry out the options for the lower school above. This talk would require the presence and participation of at least the Head Boy and his Deputies. PODs could also attend but may not need to actually take to the lectern. Microsoft PowerPoint slides could also be used if deemed necessary. The language used in this speech would need to be chosen appropriately for clarity for all years.
• A second speech to the Sixth Form as a whole, similar to the Lower school one but modified to closer match the Sixth Form’s unique structure and needs. It would have to be less “patronising” or “down-talking” but effective and memorable. As above, the Head Boy, the Deputy Head Boys would be expected to participate, as well as the PODs in attendance. Separate Microsoft PowerPoint slides could also be supplied for this.

What could also be an effective method would be to offer a brief question-and-answer session to those at the assembly, so it invokes more audience participation in the prefects system from that moment.

Literature and Training

• A student-produced “Guide to being a Good Prefect” that would be distributed to new prefects. This would be similar to the “Off the Record” booklet from September 2007, giving positive hints and tips about the role.
• A designated training session for new prefects. This should be scheduled possibly during a free or on Wednesday afternoon, as not to interfere with lessons. Another avenue for this would be to utilise the extended form time on Mondays to accommodate this.

Checks

It would be unwise to let the new system run itself as per the old system; the doctrine of self-maintenance has been proved to be largely ineffective and harmful to the prefects system. The following checks should be implemented alongside the remedies:

• Mandatory review of prefects by PODs to root out bad attendee’s. There must be no bias towards friends of the POD in the implementation of this.
• Periodical peer review of prefects by themselves. This would best be implemented with anonymous slips of paper that then get handed to a central, non-partisan person, such as a Deputy Head of School.
• It should be empowered to PODs, Head Boy, Deputy Head Boy and also the Student Council to recommend and approve the removal of bad prefects from the roster. A “blacklist” would be made after every peer-review period of the prefects whose position is the most under threat. This would be determined by the number of negative slips received about them – each slip equating to a “black mark”. These black marks would however only last until the next review period, to allow for improvements to be noted and to not de-motivate prefects too much.
• The ultimate removal of a prefect should also require ratification by the Student Council to remain democratic. However, in exceptional circumstances this may be ignored, for example, if a prefect is obviously not interested or after serious incidents of negligence or improper perfecting on duty.