When I first started this activity there were some problems to overcome, these included the people who would not show any respect or attention to what I was doing and how they would be one to cause more problems for my allocated teacher and myself to deal with. I was able to sort these problems out though because the teachers understood about what could happen and that if there were a certain pupil who was rude or didn’t listen they would explain to them the purpose of prefects. If problems persisted with a pupil against a prefect, senior staff got involved to sort the problem out quickly and quietly.
I still carry on doing this activity today and so far have done activities such as minding that people behave around the school site, helping the teachers at break and lunch and setting an example to the younger pupils to follow. There were other people involved in this activity and they had to do the same kind of thing with their allocated teacher. All of the prefects agreed to work as a team at the beginning in a prefect assembly. We agreed that we would achieve more if we were as a unit and done our very best. Our head teacher spoke to us all as a team and explained what we would be doing and how it helped the school.
A typical day for myself is that I would set an example from the very moment I step out of my house to my journey to school, and till the end of the day when I get home. This would be making sure I am smartly dressed, proud of what I was doing and not causing any problems. Once I enter the school grounds, I would make sure that I remained the same positive person and to make sure I behave in a way that others should. When its my time to do a duty with the teacher, I meet up with them in the classroom and go to wherever we need to together, we then discuss what we are going to do, for example, in the school canteen, I will stay at one end of the room making sure everyone is doing everything they should, and the teacher will be at the other end controlling queues and general behaviour problems. If there was someone not doing as they should, I would quietly ask them to do the right thing, and if they continue doing wrong, I would either ask them to talk with the teacher or ask the teacher to go to them. The majority of the time, most pupils are well behaved and don’t cause any big problems to deal with. At the end of the break I would make sure the canteen is tidy and ready for use again. After I have finished this duty, I would carry on my school day as when I first come in to school.
People benefited from this activity because they learn they could not get away with trying to rebel against the teachers or prefects. The whole school community also benefited because it did make a small number of pupils feel safer that there was a team to sort out any problems like fighting or bullying. It also benefited the younger pupils because they had someone to look up to and follow.
If I had to be involved in this activity in the future I would try and changed certain pupils attitudes towards the prefect team. I would also like to see prefects have more power to giving detentions with a good reason, and if it was necessary, they could enforce further punishment. I also thing prefects should have more rewards for working hard and trying to make the school a better place.
