School Prefect Questions- Could You Help Please?

You've already used one of the key words - enthusiastic.
Add to that - approachable, friendly, kind, polite, responsible, reliable, trustworthy.
With a sense of fairness, an aptitude for strong, but quiet leadership, a desire to encourage others, and a good sense of humour.
Just tell her to dot some of these around when answering A to D, and give examples illustrating how this might be achieved.
As she is shy, don't forget to get her to mention that this would be a great opportunity for her to improve her confidence.
Good luck, and I hope she is successful.

Perhaps you could sit down with her and get her to talk through her ideas for each question to build her confidence - while she’s talking, you could jot down a few of the key points she makes so that she can use those to structure her written answers. You might need to prompt her a little if she tends to lack confidence and doesn’t like talking about all her good qualities

I don’t suppose the school is looking for a polished application from a 10 year old, they’ll just be wanting to see that she’s thought about the role, knows her own strengths and what she can contribute to the community ( involvement in extra activities, being helpful to new pupils…etc etc)

Her teachers will know her well so whatever she writes should be in her “ voice” and style.

Oh, and check what information she’s been given ( if any) so that her answers fit the “ role description” if there is one.

I think you will enjoy talking this through with her!

You need to encourage her to fill in the form herself, and consider her own personal strengths and talents.

You could have some practice runs with her, and hot down the things which are relevant. .

Then she cab out them into her own words on the form.

Good luck to both of you.

How lovely! You must be so proud of her.

I agree with the others that talking it through with her is a good idea, and so is gentle prompting in case she forgets (or is oblivious to) any of her strengths.

I think a key role of any sort of representative is the ability to separate their own wishes from those of the people they represent. If she can show that she is a good listener and can be unbiased in her thinking it might stand her in good stead. It big ask for a ten year old though😀.

Do let us know how she gets on?

That’s lovely that she feels she would like to do that.
Suggestions have already been made which will help, but when she’s talking it through with you, what about question C l?
What responsibilities do you think you will have as a prefect?
What has she noticed that prefects have done whilst she’s been at the school
e.g.
one thing our prefects do is to join other classes during wet playtimes - playing or reading with the younger children and encouraging them to tidy things away.

D How would you contribute to the school community?
If she’s seen what existing prefects do, she might have additional ideas that she thinks would be useful or that she wishes they did.

The point made about trying to develop her own self confidence is a good one.
Good luck to both of you.

Schools look to prefects to be rule followers and to set and example to other children as to why they also should uphold the rules. Things like pushing and shoving, running in the corridor, arriving on time, wearing the correct uniform and so on. She should be capable of explaining to others the purpose of the rules and why they should be obeyed.

I was never chosen as a prefect for this very reason. I am not, and never have been, a rule follower. On the contrary I gain immense pleasure from gaming the system.

Encourage her.She is confident.It will undermine that confidence if you suggest otherwise.

Thank you

Let’s face it. Most parents will have a huge input into their child’s answers. That will be obvious if they write it for them. So I agree with the idea of encouraging your granddaughter to talk about it, jotting down some bullet points and letting her write it up in her own words.

I totally agree with Cabbie........it will be so obvious if a parent/grandparent/older sibling has completed any of the application forms, so by discussing the four questions together your GD will be able to make the application her own.
I wish her all the best too

You need to translate the questions into 10 year old language.

A Why have you chosen to be a prefect?
B What qualities do you have that will support your role as a prefect?
C What responsibilities do you think you will have as a prefect?
D How would you contribute to the school community?

Why do you want to be a prefect?
Why do you think you would be good at being a prefect?
What do prefects do?
Would it help all the other people at school if you were a prefect ?

Lots of pupils are shy, and having a prefect they feel they can relate to/talk to/ask questions of is a strength

This isn't a job application and I agree with others that encouraging her to find her own answers to these questions with a few prompts from yourself would be the way to go.

You have already said that she is shy and lacks confidence- so turn these aspects into positives.
1 She wants to gain confidence though helping others
2 She is kind, caring and helpful especially with other children who may be shy.
3 What repsonsibilities will she have? Helping others if she is asked, making sure eveyone is safe by going to adults for help.
4 What can she bring to the community? Things she is involved in; dancing, brownies, sports, music etc.

I would also consider how she will deal with not being accepted. Be supportive but let her gain some independence and know how to handle failure too.

biglouis

Schools look to prefects to be rule followers and to set and example to other children as to why they also should uphold the rules. Things like pushing and shoving, running in the corridor, arriving on time, wearing the correct uniform and so on. She should be capable of explaining to others the purpose of the rules and why they should be obeyed.

I was never chosen as a prefect for this very reason. I am not, and never have been, a rule follower. On the contrary I gain immense pleasure from gaming the system.

Same here 😂 I was always the one having her name shouted out.

Why do you want to be a prefect?
Why do you think you would be good at being a prefect?
What do prefects do?
Would it help all the other people at school if you were a prefect ?

Perfect Caleo 👍

Several years ago I was asked to help my minded child to write her application for class rep on the school council.
One idea she liked was to always let everyone have their say and listen to both sides in any dispute.

I think all the above suggestions are good. However I was rather thrown by the age of the child. 10?
We didn’t have prefects in junior school. Only the sixth form at grammar school were prefects, the head boy and girl coming from the Upper sixth. …How things change ,

I think that's critical, although maybe not so much of a prefect role. What I would say, however, is that my experience with students twice her age suggests that most can't resist pushing their own agenda in rep meetings, so expecting lack of bias in a 10 year old is probably unrealistic. The teachers will be on it though, I'm sure.

Thanks everybody.

You've been a great help. Yes, JamesandJon33, she's only 10! We didn't have prefects at any of my schools at all, so I have no direct experience of them.

I think they try to have prefects in Year 6 to make the children feel grown up and they want them to have pride in the school.

Thanks again

This is such a helpful thread where GNs can take from it suggestions to suit the individual child and the school's requirements.
There's ideas to get us all thinking!

Reliability: if I am asked to do a job I always try to finish it.

I recommended a girl to be a form prefect because although she struggled academically and lacked confidence she always completed any task given to her. She was astonished to be chosen but it did wonders for her confidence.

Ask her what duties prefects have to do (helping dinnerladies, taking messages, preparing things for lessons?)

we had class prefects when I was 10 their role was to give out the milk.. little glass bottles..

JamesandJon
Like you we didn’t have prefects in junior school, monitors who helped with packing up at class finish or delivering a note to headmistress or helping in some way like giving out the milk but we only had prefects in 6 th form and I was one
These were picked by the teachers not the friends or classmates

But then they have Graduation’ in primary school now. Where as we Graduated only after finishing a degree

Thanks