Writes Michael Herring, Head of Upper School
The Junior Common Room (JCR) has formed the prefect body at Merchant Taylors’ for centuries.
Junior prefects, known as prompters, and senior prefects, known as monitors, are mentioned in school records as far back as 1702. In that year, there emerged a ‘Table’, which consisted of eight monitors together with the Captain of the School, and a ‘Bench’ comprised of nine ‘prompters’. Originally, monitors made speeches at the annual St Barnabas Day elections; the prompters’ job was to prompt these speeches. Over time, monitors and prompters came to assume duties around maintaining discipline in school and to serve as a conduit between pupils, staff and the Merchant Taylors’ Company.
Some things have changed but some remain the same. Today, the JCR is, above all, about service to the school – service being the essence of leadership – and members of the JCR organise tours, help at events and are looked to as embodiments of our core values.
You can recognise them by their – very smart – burgundy ties; whether you are a parent or a younger pupil, please do stop one of them to talk about their role. They will be only too happy to chat.
Service as part of the JCR is just one of the many leadership roles our Sixth Formers play in the school: whether by running societies, leading musical ensembles or casts of players, captaining sports teams or serving as House Prefects, we hope that all will experience some form of leadership in the Sixth Form. Beyond this, we very much hope that all Sixth Formers lead in school every day in myriad quiet ways that do not require the recognition of a new tie or a formal position; it is most often by passing on a kind word or a helping a lost Third Former that they create the warm community we have here at Taylors’.
