Foreword
Origin/Etymology of the word "Prefect",
This is just to remind you that you went to a "grammar" school to study Latin grammar!

The word Prefect comes from late middle English, from the Latin praefectus, past participle of preaficere ( set in authority over )
Praefectus was the formal title of many, fairly low to high-ranking officials in ancient Rome, whose authority was not embodied in their person but conferred by delegation from a higher authority. They did have some authority in their prefecture such as controlling prisons and in civil administration.
In France each department is still governed by a prefect, appointed by the president, and rules from the "prefecture" building .
In England, however, since the mid-19th Century, a prefect is a senior pupil given certain limited responsibilities in the school and is authorised to impose discipline. That was still pretty much the job description at West Leeds in the mid-20th Century.

The Perfect Prefect
One of the prefects in the upper sixth was usually appointed Head Boy of the school.

"As a Head Boy , I feel I must be a role model and an example to other students. A Head Boy is chosen because he is the most qualified student. His conduct should be exemplary. He must see that discipline is maintained at all times in the school. He must also attend to many activities in school such as assisting the teachers. A head boy must have an all-round personality meaning that he needs to give prominence to both his studies and extra-curricular activities".
You might think that this statement is an anachronism, written before the bonfire of the grammar schools in the 1970s and that prefects, along with grammar schools, have been consigned to the dustbin of history. Not so, this was written recently on the website of a school in Sri Lanka. Many of the countries which used to be coloured red on the map, including the Indian sub-continent, still model their schools on our late lamented grammar schools.

Imperfect Prefect?
Reading the above makes me wonder if there was ever a case of an "imperfect prefect". I don't ever recall an instance of one being demoted to the ranks for dereliction of duty or conduct unbecoming the high office of prefect. The thought of the Headmaster ceremoniously ripping the prefect's badge off a miscreant's lapel in front of the whole school would have made for a memorable morning assembly. Maybe that's because of the relatively short tenure of the office, usually less than 2 years, it doesn't give them time to go off the rails. Although recent experience with MP's does not exactly support this theory.

Like Andy Silson I had little prospect of being shortlisted by the head (JS Barnshaw) for preferment to the office of Prefect. Whatever slim chance I may have had of enhancing my CV, I blew in the lower sixth. One wet lunchtime, when we were confined to the classroom, myself and a classmate were caught trying to recreate a game of ice hockey indoors, wearing "borrowed" motor cycle helmets, wielding field hockey sticks, and knocking a tennis ball around the classroom. The Head ,Barnshaw, walked past on corridor patrol and gave us a withering stare. He didn't appreciate that we were only trying to reinvent the Canadian game of ice hockey by changing the rules a bit, similar to William Webb Ellis and football when you think about it.

Finally, If you have any stories to tell of your time as a prefect at WLBHS to contribute please contact me. _JS

Selection of prefects was entirely in the gift of the head teacher. His criteria were never made public but there appeared to be two prerequisites. Membership of the combined cadet force, especially when a boy had been promoted out of the ranks, and captaincy of athletics and games were greatly advantageous qualities. Naturally, I was not one of the chosen. My incompetence at games has already been noted. I could see little point in the cadets and I was further discouraged by my father. He had not that long returned from active service himself and he was very much against me having any voluntary involvement in the armed services. Yet if the school was truly seeking to develop pupils' personal qualities, then pupils such as me were the very ones who ought to have had some experience of leadership.

My failure to become a prefect did nothing to enhance my third year in the sixth. The year had its moments, but I suspect I had already outgrown school by the end of the second year if not earlier. The 'A' levels I obtained in the second year sixth were sufficiently good for me to have no difficulty in obtaining a place at university. However, I needed an exhibition at least or a scholarship at best to take up the offer. So, in July 1956, I left school uncertain as to my future. Nevertheless, I was overjoyed to be leaving school. In the event, I managed to gain a scholarship and with that I proceeded to university and a new life.

I returned to the school on only three occasions. Once was when I made a small donation to the library, just before going up to university. It would be thirty-five years, in June 1991, before I again entered the building on the occasion of the final summer fair. Less than a year later, I attended the final open day of West Leeds Boys' High School. The building closed in 1992 and lay empty until 1999 when the process of converting the building into flats commenced. It has been shown that Leeds City Council's municipal grammar schools were by no means an unqualified success. The significance of this conclusion for the future education of fourteen- to nineteen-year-olds is discussed in a subsequent paper.

Anthony Silson (WLHS 1949 - 56) Read more of Anthony's memoir by clicking here

Additional comments:

John Wardle who joined the 6th form from another school in 1959 wrote:

I no sooner stepped over the threshold than I was made prefect. Here the prefects had manifest privileges. They were the only pupils permitted to use the front entrances and the upper and lower sixth-form prefects had separately assigned common rooms with sofas and settees.

Cap Checks.
The prefects were responsible for enforcing the school rules, which included ensuring compliance with the uniform dress code. The school cap and tie were particularly contentious items. Students were expected to wear the school cap during their journeys to and from school. Occasionally, the prefects would police this rule by setting up checkpoints at a distance from the school. I remember seeing one of these cap checks at the Church of the Venerable Bede on Greenhill Road as I sailed past on the school bus, fortuitously having chosen not to walk that day. I was of course wearing the cap when I alighted the bus, under the gaze of prefects, at the bus stop in front of the school. -JS