SCHOOL CAPTAINS BADGE PIONEER VILLAGE SCHOOL

I was made school captain for one term in Year 7. There were usually two captains at a time, and we only held the position for a term, then theyd change. I think it was either the year 7 teacher (Ms Merrick) or the principal (Mr Davies) who chose the captains, but Im not sure. Id have to check the yearbook to see who was captain with me.
Our duties were usually sitting at the front of school assemblies, leading everyone in the national anthem or school creed (depending on if it was a formal assembly or a general weekly one) and reading out the Honour Cards awarded to students. At each weekly assembly, teachers could write Honour Cards for students in their class who had done something significant or who helped out or were a good example for others. The captains stood at the front of assembly, with the teachers, and read the cards so the student it was for could come out in front of everyone and be clapped. I never liked doing that as I was a particularly nervous kid and didnt like being in front of large groups of people, or talking to more than about five people at a time. I think the teachers made me captain to try and break me out of my anxiety of being in front of a crowd.
Captains also got to ring the school bell to signal start and end of lunch, recess and end of the day. The year 1 classroom was a mock-church building, complete with steeple, clock and bell-tower. So the year 7 captain had to leave class early to walk down to year 1 and stand in the doorway pulling the rope to ring the bell. It was just a single bell, but pretty loud and the harder you pulled the rope the louder it got as it swung harder. It was a highlight of being a captain.
I do remember when I was about year 3 or 4 that one of the captains rang it so hard that the bell actually fell out of the bell tower. It detached from whatever structure that supported it and flew out, over the side of the roof and fell on the path which went between the year 1 building and pre-primary. It hit the wooden fence at the side of pre-primary, and very nearly missed students in front of me who were heading back to class.
I also remember getting up into the back of the clock/bell tower at one point. Dad was an electrician and sometimes volunteered his services for the school and when the clock stopped one year, he went up to fix it. There was what seemed to me like a secret room up there, only accessible by a huge ladder (to my child-size eyes) and you could sit behind the clock and look out over the main entrance to the school. It was a fun adventure when I was a kid.