Head Boy / Head Girl

Does your school have a head boy and head girl? If so how are they appointed and what do their duties include?

At my school there are 5 deputy head boys, 5 deputy head girls (one for each day of the week!) and, obviously, only one head boy and one head girl. As my school is not entirely coeducational, and located on two seperate campus (or is it campi? :s) the boys, and boys' staff vote for six boys they would like to see as "school officers" and then the girls do the same. When the votes have been counted, roughly 10 boys and 10 girls are interviewed by the headmaster and deputy head.

I'm not really sure what their duties include, though they do get to wear a cool different coloured blazer!

Reply 1

Christophicus

18

smeets

Does your school have a head boy and head girl? If so how are they appointed and what do their duties include?

At my school there are 5 deputy head boys, 5 deputy head girls (one for each day of the week!) and, obviously, only one head boy and one head girl. As my school is not entirely coeducational, and located on two seperate campus (or is it campi? :s) the boys, and boys' staff vote for six boys they would like to see as "school officers" and then the girls do the same. When the votes have been counted, roughly 10 boys and 10 girls are interviewed by the headmaster and deputy head.

I'm not really sure what their duties include, though they do get to wear a cool different coloured blazer!

I had the choice to be head boy but declined.
The amount of extra stuff you have to do and the responsibility is immense and I realised that my grades would be affected if I accepted the offer.

Reply 2

Don Corleone

Widowmaker

I had the choice to be head boy but declined.
The amount of extra stuff you have to do and the responsibility is immense and I realised that my grades would be affected if I accepted the offer.

That's where you need to compromise. Sure, your grades might suffer; but you would have an excellent achievement to put on your PS, plus, Universities will acknowledge that you've given yourself more responsability and will know your grades may have suffered. Grades aren't everything.

Reply 3

username9303

3

Widowmaker

I had the choice to be head boy but declined.
The amount of extra stuff you have to do and the responsibility is immense and I realised that my grades would be affected if I accepted the offer.

You could always just go for deputy head boy, because it has practically no requirements and allows you to carry on with your subjects as normal :biggrin:

ollie

Reply 4

natcho

OP

10

Don Corleone

That's where you need to compromise. Sure, your grades might suffer; but you would have an excellent achievement to put on your PS, plus, Universities will acknowledge that you've given yourself more responsability and will know your grades may have suffered. Grades aren't everything.

On face value I agree with you. Personally I would be willing to let my subjects slide a little if it meant being head boy or girl. The two previous head boys at my school, however, have failed to get into oxbridge as well as a couple of other unis and their grades were pretty good.

On a different note, what is the process for becoming head boy or girl at your schools?

Reply 5

abc101

17

At my school before it got really small, we had a Head Girl and normally 2 deputies, but when it got really small they just made all the Sixth Form (about 6 people) Senior Prefects and me and 3 other girls in my year (Year 11) Prefects. We didn't do owt though, we were meant to supervise break and tea but never did! The Head Girls used to organise the Bazaars and things, they were picked by teacher vote I think.

Reply 6

Happy1

14

i wanted to be head girl. The head girl at my school does **** all.

Reply 7

natcho

OP

10

LawHopeful

i wanted to be head girl. The head girl at my school does **** all.

Lol. I know how you feel...

Reply 8

kellywood_5

17

At my school, we have a Head Boy, Deputy Head Boy, Head Girl and Deputy Head Girl. The Heads are in Year 13 and the Deputies are in Year 12, then when the Heads leve, the Deputies take over and new Deputies are chosen. They're elected by members of the sixth form council and their duties basically involve organising and helping at school events. I'd hate to be Head/Deputy Head Girl because it's a lot of extra work and responsibilities for no real reward. I doubt it makes that much of a difference to university applications.

Reply 9

HEAD BOY

1

I was head boy, hence the name :p:

lol. My school only goes up to yr 11 so i was head boy then, and i loved every minute of it! It is very stressful as you have a lot of responsibilities and you've got to act in an appropriate manner and help the running of the school, but there is that wonderful feeling of power! I may sound really arrogant here, but it was great and i felt like i was the most important pupil in the school lol! But i am going to miss the job and anybody who gets it, the very best of luck - it looks great on university and employment applications!

HEAD BOY

Reply 10

~nat~

1

My school is separate for boys and girls (i.e. not co-ed!) and we have a Head Boy and Head Girl, each with one Deputy. My friend has just been voted head girl and I'm not sure how it is for other schools, but at mine its quite a big responsibility. Even though she was only made head girl officially a couple of weeks before the summer holidays, she's already been planning her 'duties' for next year...she has got to organise assemblies ( e.g. speakers and readings), next year's Prizegiving, school open days, greet visitors, as well as help new students, etc! But as long as your hardworking and organised, being Head Girl/Head Boy at a school where its a major thing shouldnt be a problem, especially if you've got a Deputy to help you out!

Reply 11

leannemarie

11

At our school it's quite complicated. We have a headperson! Then 2 deputies (one male and one female) then about 9 monitors. The entire year gets to vote for 5 people they think will be good, all of the teachers recommend people, then the previous year's monitors get a vote but the headmaster decides in the end, it's all down to him. I am one, and we have to be on duty one day a week which means we have to check everything's ok around school and monitor lunch queues etc etc. We have a special lunch every Monday and go out for meals etc with the senior management so it's quite cool. We also get free cookies when we're on duty - they are gorgeous! Once you've had a chat with the headmaster, you have to write him a formal letter saying you're happy to be a monitor. The school is divided into 8 'houses' and if you want to be head of house, you have to write a letter saying why. Our school is very old (over 500 years), very traditional and it's supposed to be a great honour and they take it quite seriously. There's also a rule that headperson can keep a herd of sheep on this bit of grass we have in school...!

Reply 12

Sebby

At my school we had a Head Boy, Deputy Head Boy, Cathedral Prefect (responsible for organising all the school services in the cathedral), four Patrol Leaders (who were in charge of the rest of the prefects), four House Captains and four Vice Captains. All these positions were 'Senior Prefect' positions and you were given a different (silk!) tie to wear at school. Below this there were 6 or so Senior Prefects without specific positions and then all upper sixth and lower sixth are 'prefects'.

The positions are awarded by the headmaster and deputy headmaster after a poll of sixth form, general staff and senior staff.

Phew. Complicated but seems to work. (Don't get me started on the sports colours system, or the honours system or prize giving etc etc. - I have a different tie for every day of the week!)

Reply 13

Sebby

At my school we had a Head Boy, Deputy Head Boy, Cathedral Prefect (responsible for organising all the school services in the cathedral), four Patrol Leaders (who were in charge of the rest of the prefects), four House Captains and four Vice Captains. All these positions were 'Senior Prefect' positions and you were given a different (silk!) tie to wear at school. Below this there were 6 or so Senior Prefects without specific positions and then all upper sixth and lower sixth are 'prefects'.

The positions are awarded by the headmaster and deputy headmaster after a poll of sixth form, general staff and senior staff.

Phew. Complicated but seems to work. (Don't get me started on the sports colours system, or the honours system or prize giving etc etc. - I have a different tie for every day of the week!)

Forgot to say - the head boy is allowed a personal flat in school, to keep goats on the lawn, to grow a beard, smoke a pipe and get married in the cathedral. We also had senior prefect dinners and at the end of term to say thanks we had a buffet with copius amounts of wine!

Here is a picture of all the senior prefects:

That is EXACTLY what my school is like!

Reply 15

Sebby

leannemann

That is EXACTLY what my school is like!

Heh heh. Old fashioned and confusing!
Added a pic of my years senior prefects above

Reply 16

natcho

OP

10

Sebby

Forgot to say - the head boy is allowed a personal flat in school, to keep goats on the lawn, to grow a beard, smoke a pipe and get married in the cathedral. We also had senior prefect dinners and at the end of term to say thanks we had a buffet with copius amounts of wine!

Here is a picture of all the senior prefects:

Haha! At my school there is a folktale that the head boy is allowed to graze sheep on the font lawns. The only problem is they're made of astro-turf! So no one knows if it is true. Our past 2 head boys have been baby faced so they couldn't grow a beard even if they wanted to! I don't think there are any such win-fests, though the head boy and deputies attend various Former Pupils Club dinners at which wine is served!

I forgot to mention that at my school everyone in sixth year is a prefect. I don't know how common practise this it. The principal (who has been at the school for five years) introduced it on the basis it discouraged elitism. Basically unless you are a deputy head boy (or indeed head boy) there is no other means of being a high ranking prefect. This is a load of Sugar Honey Ice and Tea because there are ALWAYS people who do lots of prefecting duties but get the same kudos/thanks as those who do nothing at all!
There are some merits to the system but i think it sucks!

Reply 17

PinkPigeon

13

LawHopeful

i wanted to be head girl. The head girl at my school does **** all.

Me too- our school messed ours about though, because our school has been in the news a lot this year because of managing rubbish, they chose people for very political reasons, as in, who will do exactly what they tell them without standing up for what the pupils/parents want.
It's annoying because, without being too full of myself I hope, I was feeling pretty hopeful about getting head girl before the management changed. :frown:

Reply 18

PinkPigeon

13

smeets

Haha! At my school there is a folktale that the head boy is allowed to graze sheep on the font lawns. The only problem is they're made of astro-turf! So no one knows if it is true. Our past 2 head boys have been baby faced so they couldn't grow a beard even if they wanted to! I don't think there are any such win-fests, though the head boy and deputies attend various Former Pupils Club dinners at which wine is served!

I forgot to mention that at my school everyone in sixth year is a prefect. I don't know how common practise this it. The principal (who has been at the school for five years) introduced it on the basis it discouraged elitism. Basically unless you are a deputy head boy (or indeed head boy) there is no other means of being a high ranking prefect. This is a load of Sugar Honey Ice and Tea because there are ALWAYS people who do lots of prefecting duties but get the same kudos/thanks as those who do nothing at all!
There are some merits to the system but i think it sucks!

Yep- it's the same with us, we are all 'counsellors' we don't have prefects, but we do nothing! :biggrin:

Reply 19

natcho

OP

10

PinkPigeon

Me too- our school messed ours about though, because our school has been in the news a lot this year because of managing rubbish, they chose people for very political reasons, as in, who will do exactly what they tell them without standing up for what the pupils/parents want.
It's annoying because, without being too full of myself I hope, I was feeling pretty hopeful about getting head girl before the management changed. :frown:

I don't know whether or not this is true with your school, but at mine one of the main problems with the headboy selection is that no one really knows what the management are looking for. We are atleast lucky in that 10 people are interviewed, plus there are, comparatively, a lot of jobs to get - 6!

Head Boy / Head Girl

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