Leaving school is a huge thing for anyone. You spend 13 years of your life in compulsory education before moving on to do different things, whether that be sixth form, college or an apprenticeship, everyone makes their own decisions. For me, after I left school in year 11, I decided to spend the next two years in sixth form to complete my A levels, which were English Language, Religious Studies and Geography. I'm going to be completely honest with you, sixth form has been the hardest two years of my life and I've had many ups and downs throughout. I'm not here to put anyone off sixth form or even force you to go, I'm basically here to express how it feels to leave school altogether and offer my experience to you all.
Sixth form started off weird for me. I'm the type of person who hates change but once I settle into it I'm absolutely fine. It was a shock to see how hard A Levels are and I just want to point that out to everyone. They're not easy I can assure you! Throughout year 12, I settled in, grew close to people I wasn't expecting to grow close to, I went through a relationship, I thought I'd studied hard and then went through my AS exams, which for those who don't know are exams you sit at the end of your first year of sixth form. I was actually away for my results day so I received them through an e-mail from my head of sixth. I'm not going to lie, I was gutted and so disappointed with my results. When I came home from holiday I had different meetings to help decide what I was going to do but in the end I was lucky enough to resit the papers which needed resitting.
Year 13 has been, in my opinion, the most difficult year of my school life. I know that sounds a bit depressing and may not be reassuring for many of you, but if I'm honest, I didn't like it at all. The work got harder and the stress levels had risen. I quit my job to give extra time for my studies, which was the best decision I've made. In my sixth form, there had been a lot of dramas in the common room which added to the stress of A levels and the bloomin emotions I had. I didn't do very well in my mock exams, causing more meetings and blah blah blah. There were some high points of year 13, however, such as our school production where I took the role of stage manager. I've been doing productions for years and made my way up the backstage hierarchy, if you can call it that, and since this was my last one it was a special'un.
The last few weeks of school were a mix of emotions. Stress, tears, laughter, all of which were shared across the common room. As our exams creeped closer and closer (and nails were bitten shorter and shorter) the atmosphere in sixth form became so tense that you would never know when someone was going to come round the corner and rip someones hair out. A bit of an over-exaggeration but slightly true...
All year I'd been waiting for the day to leave school and was actually really excited for it. In the last two weeks of school, reality began to hit me: I won't be waking up at 6:45 every morning, I won't need to face Monday morning assembly or fishy Fridays at lunchtime. I was going into the world outside of the school I had been in for 7 years. Okay, let's not get too deep but I mean, come on, it's pretty scary. I started to realise how much I'd miss it but I couldn't wait to leave to make a fresh start. I had a pretty dramatic last term at school, it's too much to get into but for me it was pretty difficult. I wanted to leave but I wanted to stay and it was all exciting but nervewracking.
For our end of school celebrations, our school held a leaver's dinner in our main hall, which in my opinion, was an amazing evening. Sharing stories, memories and embarrassing old photos, I think it's safe to say we all enjoyed the evening thoroughly. But then the last day appeared and we celebrated it with school pranks (a sixth form tradition) bbq burgers and again, embarassing photos. It was lovely to see my creepy photobombs. It was crazy to think that we were no longer going to see the people who we'd practically grown up with everyday and that we won't be in the same routine. I need to stop going so depressed! As always we had a leavers prom which again, was a very special. Our head boy and head girl organised the whole night and I have to say I couldn't be more thankful. It was held at Lumley Castle in Durham and as we arrived, the girls were given roses (my fav flower) and photos were taken. Thank goodness the sun came out especially for us, as I like to think. I've never laughed so much and I think everyone had slightly too much wine but why the hell not ey?!
Leaving school is something that the majority of us will experience and for many it will be a scary thought but for others it will be so exciting to think of what is just round the corner. For me, I can't wait to go away to university (HOPEFULLY) and make a fresh start, meet new people, learn new places and just get away from everything. Let me know if you've left school and how you're feeling!
Charlotte xxx
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