Head boy/girl in Harry Potter

[Disney Ella]

Hello UK Board!

I asked this question on the general community board, but nobody knew the answer and I know all of you will! What exactly does the head boy or girl do in school and how is he/she selected. I am guessing they are selected based on grades and behaviour, but then again, James Potter was a head boy and he was hardly well-behaved. So in a real school, how does it work? Were any of you head boy or head girl?

 

[marlouwrig]

Hello Ella

The Head Boy and Head Girl are usually selected by the Headteacher and the rest of the teaching staff for their attitude and behaviours which allow them to be a role model both for their peers, for all the younger children in the school and also for their leadership qualities

Although usually they also perform well academically this is not usually the main reason they are selected.

Sadly neither my behaviour nor my academic ability were ever good enough for this honour, although my brother was Head Boy of his school.

 

[Disney Ella]

Thanks, marlouwrig! That certainly clears it up. I'm sure that you were not selected only because the school felt that it would not be fair to have two head students from the same family.

 

[marlouwrig]

Thats a very kind thought Ella but I am six years older than my brother.

I was a rebel through and through. Just please don't tell my children that I told you so.

Mary

 

[Hilary]

Well, I can lay claim to being both Deputy Head Girl and Vice House Captain (that one will probably really confuse you, Ella LOL!), and I was a Form Prefect lower down the school - which must make me sound like a real little goody two shoes! I can assure you I wasn't.......

I think the Head Girl / Deputies were chosen by the staff, but the House Captain / Vices and Form Prefects were elected by fellow pupils.

* Ella - most schools (at least in 'my time') had Houses, to which each pupil was assigned when they started the school, and represented for things like sports day, prize giving, etc. Our school had six Houses, and there was fierce competition at any event to gain points for our House in the hope that we'd win the House Cup at the end of the year. Oh, and you could also lose House Points for things like getting detention, forgetting to hand in homework, wearing incorrect uniform, etc. .

 

[marlouwrig]

Ooooooh. Please stop Hilary - you are bringing back the most terrifying memories.

I'll have difficulty sleeping tonight.

My most vivid memories are standing in the corner for sticking toffee popcorn to the teachers chair with glue and my biology teacher Mr Crapper yellling at me to get my hair out of the bunsen burner!!!

Bet you can't guess why I was never Head Girl.

 

[Hilary]

LOL, Mary! Mr Crapper?

It's still a mystery to me how I ever 'made the grade', but being in a school with only 600 pupils probably helped - not so much choice, was there?

 

[Disney Ella]

Sounds like those of us who went to school in the US missed out on all the fun!

 

[marlouwrig]

I know just what you mean Ella.

You certainly did miss out on things like:

Gymslips
PE knickers
Spotted Dick
Tapioca Pudding
Double Hockey in the pouring rain with a biting wind
The cane (probably not for Hilary the Head Girl)

And many more too numerous to mention

 

[BONZO]

Best not mention "Fagging" then to our country cousins!






Fagging was a system whereby younger boys acted as servants to the older boys. Duties ranged from keeping their kit clean and tidy to helping them with their exam revision. In return the senior boy was supposed to protect the youngster . Fagging was supported because it was thought to encourage an ethos of service similar to that found in the Army and Navy. It also helped to save the school from the expense of employing more domestic servants.

 

[WDWfan uk]

The cane? Fagging? Both very much in the past thank goodness!

Ella, a US pal who is a keen Harry Potterite was also asking if the House system really existed - which it does - and this works extremely well at the school my sons attend.

(BTW, my son goes into the Upper Sixth in September and is joint Head Of House - says proud Mum!!)

 

[Jinxy23]

We had Houses at my school as well although they didn't really mean alot and we didn't have head boy/girls.

Lulily no cane either, I wasn't the best student so i think i would have experienced that on more than one occasion *shudders*

Shame they didn't do more with the houses for sporting events and the like, would have made things more fun.

The only benefit was that the head tutor of the house I was in was related to Martin Johnson (rugby player), a very minor claim to fame and she used to get him to visit the school.

Has anyone seen the new tv show on channel 4 called That'll Teach Them? Its based on sending 30 students back to a 50's and shows what lessons, punishments, school rules were like back then.

 

[Dimplenose]

I have been looking at Ella's thread on the main community board and was surprised that a few people thought that JK Rowling had made up the idea of houses.

Libby