The Alleynian 704 2016

What was most encouraging was the collaborative potential of the Foundation Schools that was uncovered

T his year has been a busy one for the Senior Prefects, who have been involved in a number of different projects that have extended beyond the boundaries of regular prefect duties and reached into many different areas of College life. The particular initiative of which the prefects are perhaps proudest is the A-level Forum, which we ran in January. An event that we had been formulating since the beginning of our time as prefects, and one that needed a great deal of planning and preparation, the idea involved providing a forum in which GCSE students could engage in productive conversations with Upper School students about studying at A-level, both in general terms, and specifically in relation to individual subjects. Roughly 100 Year 11s came to the Old Library to discuss their choices, and we hope we see the event become a regular feature of the academic calendar in the future. One project went beyond, not just specific prefectorial duties to stretch into the wider Foundation Schools community. This was the Foundation Schools’ Charity Committee, a group of students from JAGS, DC and Alleyn’s that put together a charity quiz attended by roughly 200 parents of pupils from all three schools in March. There were eight rounds of questions, a selection of raffle prizes, fish and chips during the interval, some improvised jazz on the piano - from Zach Fox (Year 13) - and, overall, the evening was very well received. With a joint mufti Day also taking place, the total raised by the FSCC for the Save the Children Syria Appeal was £10,255. What was most encouraging about this project, though, was the collaborative potential of the Foundation schools that was uncovered.

Within the College, the prefects also made progress in areas of College life that we decided could benefit from student leadership. One of these was the exploration of contemporary feminism in the context of an all-boys school. We only began thinking about this issue in our final terms as prefects, but in that time we managed to put on an event with a discussion panel onto which we welcomed six girls from JAGS who had volunteered to talk about a wide variety of issues concerning gender. The event was well attended by students from both Dulwich and JAGS who, following a short presentation from each speaker, put forward some challenging, but nonetheless thought-provoking, questions on debates surrounding the idea of feminism. In the Lent term, we were fortunate to be able to test-run a proposal for debating in assembly, which we held in front of the Year 13s. The motion was, ‘Should Israel annexe the West Bank?’, with debaters Sunny Chen, Oliver Morland, Hamad Jelani and Sam Warren-Miell bravely offering their opinions on the issue. This formed an initial step as part of our long- term ambition to encourage more student-led assemblies in the Upper School. Much of our work built on the efforts of my predecessor as Captain of the School, Anamay Viswanathan, and his prefect team, and so in order to try to ensure a similarly smooth transition for Kenza Wilks and co, we produced a ‘Legacy Report’ of initiatives we would like to see picked up by the new prefect body. Having seen the enthusiasm with which this has been received, (which reminded me of how it felt as we began last summer), I truly believe we will witness even more exciting work being produced by the prefect body in the year to come and beyond.

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