A leadership course custom-made for prefects and a practical application to school life
After all the excitement of getting elected and receiving that title, badge or status, comes the reality of fulfilling the role and meeting all the expectations that come with it.
- How can I give helpful advice to younger students?
- To be a good role model, what values should I uphold?
- When do I need to involve a teacher?
- What can I do to stop bullying?
- If I need to ‘tell someone off’, how should I do it?
- Would friendship affect my decisions?
- Should I always keep a secret?
- As a team, how can we back each other up?
For most prefects or mentors, this is the first time in their lives when they’ve really had to take charge or had the eyes of the school watching and waiting to see what they’ll do.
As every school system is different, we will always tailor this prefect training course so it is directly tuned in to your existing programme.
A leadership course custom-made for prefects and a practical application to school life
After all the excitement of getting elected and receiving that title, badge or status, comes the reality of fulfilling the role and meeting all the expectations that come with it.
- How can I give helpful advice to younger students?
- To be a good role model, what values should I uphold?
- When do I need to involve a teacher?
- What can I do to stop bullying?
- If I need to ‘tell someone off’, how should I do it?
- Would friendship affect my decisions?
- Should I always keep a secret?
- As a team of prefects, how can we back each other up?
For most prefects or mentors, this is the first time in their lives when they’ve really had to take charge or had the eyes of the school watching and waiting to see what they’ll do.
As every school system is different, we will always tailor this course so it is directly tuned in to your existing programme.
“Zara is a well-meaning, cheerful 12-year-old but is extremely forgetful, scatty and disorganised. She is often late to lessons, forgets her PE kit and leaves her homework at home, even when she’s done it. Today, she hasn’t finished her history project because she simply forgot that it was due in today. She feels that this isn’t going to be a good enough excuse and tells you that she plans to make up an elaborate reason for why she hasn’t done it or otherwise just hand it in unfinished and say nothing. She hasn’t decided yet. How can you help her to address today’s problem but also to think of some positive strategies and targets for the future?”
(a dilemma card from a Wiser Words activity about mentoring)
In every school day, there are little situations like this that are going on all over the school and however brilliant the teachers are, realistically, it’s just not possible to pick up on all of them. But the prefects can genuinely help. That is if they’re selected carefully and given some support and training to enable them to deal with this kind of situation responsibly, with kindness, empathy and sensible, mature advice.
“You return to your boarding/day house at lunch time to discover that some year 9 students have had a cushion fight in their common room and it is now a complete mess. You know that the house parent is particularly busy at the moment writing reports and will be stressed if they have to deal with this. However, you also have a lot of work to do yourself including an essay that must be handed in before the end of the school day. What would be the most resourceful way of handling this?”
(another dilemma card from a Wiser Words activity about exercising authority and time management)
Sandwiched between an introduction and plenary, students would typically complete three or four modules, all of which use interactive tasks, some practical, some discussion-based, to help them explore the opportunities and implications of their role. After a conversation on the phone to understand your system and what is expected from the prefect team, we will put together a programme that is most appropriate for your school. The following are examples of some popular modules:
The Role of a Prefect – The responsibilities, strengths and priorities of a great prefect
Teamwork – Practical problem-solving tasks to help them gel as a team and identify each other’s strengths
Exercising Authority – Approaches for encouraging responsible behaviour in other students
Meetings, Agendas and Decisions – How to organise, chair and conclude a productive student-led meeting
Time and Priority Management – Organisation techniques for coping with heavy demands
Target Setting – Initiative and creative thinking to make a difference in the school
Throughout this course there is a strong emphasis on initiative and embracing responsibility. We believe that the key to building an effective team of student leaders starts with encouraging a proactive, inspired state of mind, and the realisation that their role really matters in the school community.
As you may guess, we use a lot of dilemmas to help prefects think through hypothetical scenarios and how they would deal with them. We choose dilemmas that raise complex issues with conflicting priorities in order to prompt plenty of analysis and discussion. We rarely give strong advice (unless a serious issue arises such as drugs or bullying) but instead ask lots of probing questions to encourage students to think through the issues for themselves. Whilst allowing them the opportunity to speak openly and realistically about any concerns they may have, we give them gentle guidance on how to manage and motivate others and how to work effectively as a team.
Fundamentally, our prefect training is fuelled by a conviction that student leadership can have a massive impact on a school community. Your prefects are your eyes, your ambassadors, your mini managers and your inspirational focus, that is if they are carefully selected, loyal and well prepared. They have the potential to raise the aspirations of the entire school, strengthen the community and influence younger students in ways that adults can’t.
“We have been using Wiser Words now for a number of years and have always found the courses to be excellent. Whether it be prefect training or support for Oxbridge candidates or students applying for Law or Medicine, the Wiser Words courses have given our students greater awareness and self confidence. The sessions have encouraged students to communicate effectively as well as to reflect on what they have learned. As Principal, I have to be mindful of the benefits but when the feedback is so positive, you know that you have made the right decision – as one student put it, ‘It was amazing, simply amazing!’ I have no doubt that we will be using Wiser Words again next year.”
“This was a seriously useful course which energised our prefect body and very much improved both their team working and their morale. They were noticeably better at making sensible judgments and understood far more about their own workings as a team. I can thoroughly recommend this prefect training course.”
“The students are really enthused since their prefect training – they are instigating changes and getting themselves involved in all kind of diverse projects!!”
“Valuable, meaningful, unforgettable!”
“Really uplifting, thought-provoking and unifying”
“It helped me appreciate people and all their individual talents.”
“I realised how much time I wasted and that it was stopping me from what I really wanted to do.”
“I feel more confident to be me, and I feel excited and confident about my job as a prefect. I think I am better equipped to do the best I can.”
“It has made me realise just how important being a prefect is and how influential we are to the younger years.”
“Very well presented to our age group, fun, a big help. It changed the way I look at being a mentor and helped me consider how I should act, what I should do and what is expected of me.”
“It made me more confident about talking to younger people I don’t know.”
“It made me realise that it isn’t all for fun and I may be faced with some serious issues. I now I feel more confident about how to deal with these.”
“It has helped me to be able to help other students in a calm and responsible way.”
“I learned how to deal with conflict, how to make someone feel at ease and how to talk to someone and listen well.”
“It showed the difference we can make as prefects and the effect that prefects have and the change that can occur because of prefects.”
“It was a very interesting and challenging day which has made a difference to the prefect team working together and changes we are going to make.”
“I feel it really highlighted how much responsibility prefects have.”
“It has given me a better understanding of what I want to achieve as a prefect as well as the kind of prefect I want to be.”
“It has made me really excited and enthusiastic about working as part of this team and the positive impact we can have in our school.”
“It made us feel like more of a team and emphasised the support available from each other.”
“A lot more specific to what we will be doing. Good preparation for the position we will be taking on rather than a general course that isn’t specific to you.”
“It has helped me to think about different situations and how I would react as a prefect.”
“It’s made me think about how my role is perceived by the rest of the school and my influence.”
“Very informative and enjoyable. An important day in developing a strong prefect body.”
“Made me more comfortable around all of the prefects, especially those who I don’t normally socialise with.”
“It has made me really think about the responsibilities that a prefect has and what I should aim to do next year.”
“It’s made me take my responsibilities as a prefect more seriously.”
“Highly stimulating, entertaining and informative”
“I liked the affirmations at the end – it was very heart-warming and made people feel very happy. I now feel more together as a team with the other prefects.”
“It has taught me the best way to approach younger years and the importance of team work.”
“I think as a whole group it has brought us together and helped us get to know each other more.”
“Enjoyable, self-improving, positive, motivating”
“Really worthwhile, useful and fun.”
“It helped me to feel more confident in myself and has motivated me to be a good
form mentor. Thank you.”
“Very enjoyable, productive and inspiring!”
“A good way to learn things about yourself and others, and a good balance between seriousness and fun. Thank you!”
They say…
“Now I can definitely win arguments against my brother! It has opened my eyes to a whole new world of possible answers.”
“This was brilliant compared to all the other courses I’ve had in my 17 years. Truly inspirational, I have no higher praise.”
“It made me excited to challenge myself more. Very well managed and structured leading to a brilliant course.”
“I was constantly motivated and recharged with varying discussions and tasks.”
“Enriching, and I’m now more aware of the complexities of questions and the intellectual debate that could follow.”
“I found this day exciting, exhilarating and full of new ideas and things for me to enjoy.”
“The puzzles were thrilling to solve but also very clever and challenging.”
“We got to do everything ourselves and think for ourselves without being spoonfed.”
“I enjoyed getting up to lead. I really didn’t think I’d be able to do it but I felt really good when I did.”
“Amazing and a huge learning curve for me and the whole of my year group. It really developed my communicating skills.”
“It was just fantastic. I loved it! The best bit was seeing everyone’s amazing designs.”
“100% the best course I’ve ever been on. A great experience and I would love to do it again. Every activity was amazing.”
Our course
activities
We use a whole mix of techniques to draw out different skills and appeal to all learning styles
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Numbers
don’t lie
96% of students who have attended other courses say that our courses are better!
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Build your
own day
We can run a selection of workshops in one day, with groups moving around in rotation.
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