Advice re Head Girl interview

[AnneOfCleavage]

DD is in year 10 and has been asked to select what role she may hope to get for year 11 next year. She opted for Head Girl and has been selected, along with 3 others, for interview this week.

Any tips on how to come across or what to expect from other people's DC having a Head interview in the past?

Im a head of year so hav interviewed in the past. Based on what we would look for/ask-
*Be confident but not too 'in your face'.
*Able to speak confidently in front of adults and other pupils. (Ours go into assemblies and staff meetings!)
*Be able to explain why she wants the role.
*An idea of charities to support (ours have to get involved in fundraising) and decent reasons why.
*How would she balance the role with exams/revision?
*What changes would she make to school and why - have an idea, don't just say nothing!
*explain an idea she wants to introduce as part of her role and how she would do it.

Oh wow IAmChipmonk that is so helpful. She knows about choosing a charity and is confident in talking in Year assemblies but didn't know about a new idea to introduce as that is bound to be asked.

Thank you so much for your insight - you are exactly who I was hoping to hear from

Oops IAmChipmunk I mean

My DD interviewed for Senior Prefect team and was given the Deputy Head Girl role. The Head Girl was given to another pupil who was not quite as academic as DD, and didn't have such a high workload in her final year.

I also work in a High School and again, the depute boy and girl have higher academic targets than the Head boy and girl.

Maybe it's something to think about?

My HG interview still haunts me. I didn’t get the role and it all went downhill from there!
Suggestions for improving the school.
I remember being asked “What would a visitor to the school expect from a Head Girl?”
Also, “Why should we choose you over [my best friend who was also interviewing]?”
I said that I wanted to be HG because it would be impressive on uni applications etc. I think I should have specifically talked about which top uni I had ambitions for, or career aspirations. My answer was too vague.

I created the interview for ours and have sat through all the feedback and then selection.

I’d say:

1. Make sure she knows the parameters - some of ours said things about changing whole curriculums or the school day and they don’t have any power over that.

1. She should talk about her pride in the school and wanting to give back and have an impact on the student body.

1. A lot of ours said how they are friendly and approachable for the “younger years” but the reality is that no year 7s or 8s just randomly go up to bond with year 11s. So she needs to suggest ways she could make this happen if this is what she thinks is important. For example an activity once a term when forms mix or compete.

1. She should have 3 words to describe herself positively (including keen perhaps?!) and an example of when she has show that.

E.g. “I am very enthusiastic and supportive and I have shown that by helping out at x y z”. “I am very organised and I have shown that by meeting all my deadlines for homework”. Etc.

1. She should be aware of the challenges of the role in terms of time management and be able to explain how she is organised etc.

Hope that helps.

Oh gosh. All the selected candidates are all top set pupils across the board so all will have a big work load. I'm going to go with the philosophy that if she gets it it's meant to be but if not then I'm sure she can be a prefect or monitor or similar and take it from there. This is just first round interviews so it won't all be over by end of the week... eek!

One of the girls also selected is so highly competitive that if she doesn't get it then all hell will break out - her mom complains if she doesn't get a high enough grade in assessments. When she found out she was selected she was screaming and leaping around the corridor. DD was so embarrassed as it's so not fair on the ones who didn't make the final cut to see.

Cons whether it's more important than exam results. As it counts for nothing after you leave school. Having a stress free exam season (as much as possible) and some down time is more important in the grand scheme of things, much much more.

Well the highly competitive one doesn’t sound very empathetic or a team player.

My DD was head girl. It was decided and voted upon by the teaching staff and the first she knew about it was when it was announced at assembly.
Clearly she and we were very proud, but I don't get all this stress and interviews etc.
She's done well since, first class degree and now in a job she loves but being head girl was not a contributory factor at all.
Chill people!

Former Head Girl here.
I remember talking about being a bridge between pupils and teachers. And yea def not get ahead of herself- no curriculum changes etc.
Will keep my fingers crossed for her!

Thank you to you all for your insightful comments and hints. I'll let you know how she gets on. She is such a self effacing, humble young lady and always so happy when her friends get achievements. All the girls going for the role are actually her friends too so hope there's no fall out with the competitive ones.

The Girls who were short listed in DD's yr (not DD, she got to final 7, but not final 2!) -- they both were quite athletic & had lots of history doing athletic competitions.

I think what that short-list meant is that they had shown they could be both high academic achievers and do lots of extra activity.

DD later reckoned she dodged a bullet not getting HG (the HG thought seriously about quitting several times). The extra pressure to be a perfect role model had no appeal for DD.

Related to changes - I’ve known senior prefect interviewees asked what they would like to be their legacy. What change would you make/initiative start which would leave a permanent mark on the school?

Good luck to your dd! Anne

DD had her interview after school yesterday and said it went well and also said the other girls said their's went well too so it's anyone's guess. She had the Head Teacher, Pastoral Head, Form Teacher and current Head Girl as her panel and they all asked different questions but she was able to answer them as best she could.
She got asked about juggling GCSEs with having a Head role and how she'd manage that, what charity she'd like to support and why and then what she'd done to be part of the school etc plus others I can't remember.

Don't know when we find out who was successful or if there is more whittling to be done but thank you again for your advice - DD was very grateful to you all 💐

Quick update: she has made it through to final two so will be either Head girl or deputy Head girl. The other one to get selected with her was the super competitive one. The other two seemed okay when told they hadn't got it but DD said they were both crying in class later. Seems there were lots of tears as some girls didn't get their chosen prefect role either so the school is super charged with hormones today.

One of the ones who didn't get it said to DD: do one thing for me and GET HEAD GIRL.
Seems they don't want the over confident one to get the Head post as lots of other girls also were pleased that DD got selected and not so pleased about the other one so lots of pressure. She'll take it in her stride though and what will be will be.

She has to have one more interview process to decide who gets which role but it'll be after Easter now and she'll have to prepare a speech to present to the panel again.

Congrats to your daughter, it sounds like she'd be good.

As it counts for nothing after you leave school I've met several people who were head girls and they do have a slight tendency to make sure people know it >cynical< . My own dearly departed DM springs to mind. I've also seen it mentioned on cv's etc of people near retiring age.

I know this happened 40 years ago, but I put in an application for prefect, specifically HG and the form came back from our year head with “Ha Ha” scrawled across it😂

Ha ha that made me laugh WFT 😂

Don't worry second I would make a bet that DD wouldn't even think to put it on her CV. In her interview she didn't want to even mention all the amazing things she does like volunteering etc as she thought it would be perceived as bragging.
Thank you though - we are v proud of her.

Fingers crossed for her final interview. X

Quick update. DD had now been told she got the Deputy Head Girl role. We are delighted as we think it will be less stressful than Head Girl but DD was a bit disappointed as the other girl gets everything (not my words but hers and all the other girls) and is crowing.

The Deputy Head teacher is delighted to be working with DD and said that her role is just as important and she'll be kept busy.

I do wonder if DD should have sung her involvement in school - she was afraid of looking cocky - as she volunteers for lots of things and is involved in lots of clubs and activities whereas the other girl doesn't do anything. No point over analysing it as decision is made and secretly I'm v happy. Perhaps they want to keep DD being involved so a less busy role given so she can carry on.

Thanks again for all your help and advice 😀