Kade Wilkie and Charlie Mae Griffiths, Year 8 students were elected at the beginning of the year to be head prefects at Martinborough School.
“To be elected we first had to put our names forward to be Prefects or Senior House Leaders,” said Charlie Mae.
“To qualify we had to write speeches detailing how we could support the students or make a difference to the school. Once we had written our speeches we spoke to the year 6 students who voted for the one, they liked best.
My speech focused on how I could make difference by being a role model for the students, particularly to the younger children. I also mentioned how I could help the students with their learning and sporting activities; the swimming sports or cross country.”
“I approached my speech somewhat differently.” said Kade
“I looked back at how I felt when I first came to school and how I thought the Big Kids were very large and took up a lot of space. There were all sorts of routines and regulations that it took some time to get used to. Now that I am a Big Kid I recognize that school can be rather over whelming for younger students and it would be my responsibility to help them adjust.
Our speeches had to be carefully crafted on the computer, and we could include slide shows if we wished”.
Once the students had voted then the teachers voted. Kade and Charlie were elected as Head Prefects. Some of the other senior students became House Leaders.
“Duties for head prefects can be quite diverse” says Kade “we run events such as chess, four square or pada tennis in our lunch times”. “We stick up for kids who are not being treated kindly.
“We help teach sports such as netball and cricket,” adds Charlie, and sometimes run assemblies”.
Next year both students will be moving on to Rathkeale and St Mathews. Sport will continue to play a large part in their lives.
