The John McGlashan Prefect Team 2019

Friday 8th February 2019

A night away together was the best medicine to start the year as a committed and healthy team, intent on making a significant and useful contribution to the college.


Prefects 2019
Prefects 2019

Whilst Wednesday the 31st of January was the first day back at school for all students in 2019, it was also the first field trip for the year! Mr Veitch and Dr Preston loaded up 14 boys (Nathan Harrison was sadly still on Spanish exchange and could not attend) and drove them out to Tirohanga Presbyterian Camp for an afternoon and evening of team building and leadership training. 

The highlight of the evening was certainly the 'Spiderweb' exercise where the team had to figure out a way to get all 14 boys through some fairly challenging holes in the web. After 1 hour 15 minutes, the boys completed the task with a wonderful sense of accomplishment and exuberance (see the video clip attached - NOTE: once a team member was through to the other side without touching the web, they were not allowed to speak again until all team members were through).

After a fantastic pizza dinner, we shared some insights we had learnt from the team building exercises, discussed the differences between a group and a team, and proceeded to discuss and choose individual roles for the year. Around 10.30pm we headed for bed and it was so hot that evening that a few boys slept out under the stars for the entire night.

The day after, all of the Year 13 cohort joined us at the campsite and the prefects (trained the previous afternoon by Mr Clark), ran the activities for the day and demonstrated excellent leadership and problem-solving skills...perhaps the reason the boys at the college elected them in the first place! The afternoon/evening retreat was a resounding success and will be a permanent fixture in the college calendar from now on. 

Prefect Roles for 2019:

Charles Keenan (Head Boy) - general duties

George Bell (Deputy Head Boy) - general duties

Will Edwards (Deputy Head Boy) - general duties

Ben Lund - Health and Well-being

Ben Porter, Nathan Harrison - Arts and Culture

Billy Sheard and Archie Calder - Outdoor and Environmental Liaison

Will Turner, Harrison Biggs - Academic and International Support

Lucas Dickison, Sam Clulee - Social Liaison

David Cannon - Special Character and Service

Tom Dempster, Leroy Ferguson - Sport's Liaison

Spiderweb Prefect Team McGlashan 2019