Whether you are a student in Year 9 with aspirations to become a prefect or a Year 10 student who has already submitted your application, this article is for you.
Hi everyone, I’m Jolyn, a senior prefect who’s a part of the events committee and the head of said committee. First, let’s start off with what being a prefect is all about and the responsibilities that come with being a prefect.
The organizational structure is as follows:
The Year 11 prefect committee is split into 3 sub committees: Events, Lead Learners and Well-being. Each committee is made up of 5-7 prefects depending on the number of applicants we get each year and of those sub committees, your head of committees are chosen. Usually, the members of each committee will nominate themselves and the committee will vote on who they see fit to lead the committee. For my year, we have 3 committee heads and one head prefect who oversees all the committees and handles the communication between committees and head teachers like Ms Shalini and Mr Faulkner. However, last years team had three committee heads and the head prefect was chosen from there. It all boils down to the number of students selected. The distribution of prefects are not based on house colour or gender, but solely your qualities. The responsibilities you are expected to uphold are pretty self explanatory. The Events committee is expected to plan and host events such as halloween, christmas, prom and more. The Lead Learners committee manages the @tenbysepks4 instagram page, decorates the prefect board, runs reading revolutionaries and more. Lastly, the Wellbeing committee is in charge of any events related to student wellbeing. The Wellbeing committee has the Empath Corner and are often managing any events with the involvement of charity.
I hope you have an idea of what responsibilities you have going into individual committees and which committee you would like to be a part of if you do become a prefect. No committee is better than the other and they all play a huge role in the development of the school. Now, once you’ve selected your Secondary Pillars, you will also be expected to be a part of one of the six Campus Pillars. They are Student Welfare, Global Values, Eco, Steam, Sports and Service and Charity. These are the pillars that host big events in the school such as Eco week, Street Child United, International Women’s Day, Santa’s elves and many more. As a senior prefect, you will be expected to partake in the planning of any events and help out any teacher or campus pillar in need of manpower.
Being a prefect comes with many responsibilities but also many opportunities for your personal growth. You’ll learn to work with others and plan large events you have not done before. Overall, it is a great learning experience that not only adds to a line in your ROA, but also develops you as a person in terms of decision making and moral values. There will be many challenges you will face but the reward of finishing a project is just as great.
Now, onto how I actually became a prefect.
As one would expect, I followed the standard protocol of submitting my application, being assessed in the group task and lastly the interview with the Head of Wellbeing, Head Prefect and my Head of Year. For 2022, you will be meeting with Ms Shalini and our head prefect, Seng Junn to answer a series of questions. For your application, it shouldn’t be a bragging competition. As much as we want to know your accomplishments, we want to get to know you as a person. Why you want to become a prefect, any inspirations that led you to this decision and so on. You do not need to have a lot of experience to become a prefect. Prior to this, we never had student leadership teams within our years as you do, and nor was I overly active in the participation of any groups such as Tenbyzine. I had little to no experience with leading but I still submitted my application expressing my personal qualities and values I had as an individual. It is not too late to start now and you can still become a prefect even if you don’t have a lot of experience. Compared to my other head prefects, I come last in terms of experience but this opportunity has allowed for me to develop my leadership skills and build a solid record of achievement.
To be frank, the interview was the most nerve-wracking as I had not been interviewed like that before. However, it went smoothly as the interviewers made me feel comfortable. As long as you articulate your points well and show confidence, you’ll do well. The group task is also an important factor of whether you get the position as we will be able to see how you work with a team and whether or not you have the leadership skills to take on this role as a prefect.
I encourage everyone to submit their application and good luck!
If you do have any questions, feel free to shoot me a quick message via Teams. (sep.6206)
Jolyn
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