The School Management organised a special workshop aimed at training the school’s main prefects on leadership roles, which was held at the Mariannhill Retreat House recently.
The objective of the workshop was to equip learners with necessary skills that will allow them to exercise their duties as prefects effectively, thus being serving as the link between learners, educators and the school Management.
According to the school Head Girl, Kelly Ngulube, the workshop enabled the prefect “to co-create a framework allowing us to properly achieve our mandate as a leadership body of St Francis College”. She added that further objectives of the workshop were to “clarify the role of a prefect; help us deepen our self-awareness and develop a team charter guiding our interactions as prefects and the St Francis Community”.
Throughout the workshop the participants performed several exercises which were in line with the objectives outlined at the start of the workshop.
According to the Head Girl what stood out for them were the words of encouragement such as ‘Many are called but very few respond to the call’. “These words resonated a lot with us because we were called upon by the school and participating in the workshop was a response to call”, she said.
The workshop opened our minds, and when you open your mind, you open new doors to new possibilities for yourself and new opportunities to help others, said Lungelo Ngubane, the School Head Boy, adding that “leadership is not a position, but a mere service geared to help in maintain order at the school.”
The workshop concluded with the drawing up of the specific roles and activities of the prefects at St Francis College:
| Our specific activities in respect of the learners are:
· To inform them on the College’s ethos, traditions and practices and guide them to behave accordingly. · To engage constructively with them to understand their perspectives and needs. · To discern their requests and raise relevant issues with College management. · To identify learners with specific needs and provide them with appropriate support. · To ensure that the school environment is conducive to learning.
Our specific activities in respect of the educators are: · To stand-in for them when they are unavailable. · To communicate issues emerging from the educators to the learners. · To keep them abreast of the ‘climate’ within the learner body. · To represent the College at events and celebrations.
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we are most grateful to the school management for giving us this opportunity.