High School & Moving On

This time last year I had completed my last exam and finally finished school. Recently I was reflecting back on the three years I spent at my high school; the lessons I learnt, the memories I made and the friendships that formed. I felt like now would be a prime time to post about these experiences as everyone in the year below is now going through the same thing that I did and I know how much can change in a year.

I began year 9 with a relatively large friendship group and we didn’t believe people when they said that friendships don’t always work and people drift apart but now I realise how true this actually is. This being said, I am a firm believer in the saying that Everything Happens For A Reason and I still value the friendships and will always love the girls that I don’t see as much of anymore because they’re who I grew up with. But I guess that’s what happens. We grow up. 

I don’t actually remember that much of year 9 as my memory isn’t that great but I know that I was happy and enjoyed my time before the pressure of exams kicked in. If I had to give anyone about to enter year 9 a piece of advice it would be to just enjoy it. Make the most of your freedom from responsibility because it all work work work after that. In truth, choosing the subjects I wanted to study during GCSE’s in year 9 was a way for me to explore where I wanted to go in life and those decisions and realisations are still with me almost 4 years on. It was the year I became inspired.

Year 10 was a bit of a blur and the main thing that I remember is that, because my school allowed certain groups to take their science GCSE’s a year early, the pressure began to crank up. Saying that, I know that the only person putting pressure on me was me - science was my least favourite subject and I knew there was no chance of me continuing to study it so my parents didn’t pressure me into doing anymore than pass. Looking back, I think this was the year I began to truly grow up. The friendship group I was in had shrunk and there were some issues between us but we managed to resolve them. I had also had to become serious about school and whilst I am an academic person, I still prefer chilling with my friends to sitting and reading about classification. But at the end of the day, you’ve got to do what you’ve got to do.

Year 11. Where do I begin with this year. Probably the most eventful year of my school life. By the end of it my friendship group had encountered issues that reduced our numbers even more but I still love my girls more than anything. I had also experienced the most stress, tears and emotions I have ever known. And looking back I think that was all over nothing (which my mom did continually tell me but I didn’t listen). A piece of advice I’d give to any year 11’s is don’t stress as much as you probably will. Also I promise that hard work pays off. On the 16th of June I had my last exam which not only meant I had a luscious long summer to enjoy but it also meant moving on to the future. 

As I near the end of my first year of A-levels I’ve been thinking a lot about the decisions I made to move to a college and completely change my life. Looking back I am really glad that I made this decision because I have grown as a person and feel more prepared for the future now, although I do miss 2 of my best friends who remained at the high schools sixth-form. I really believe that things happen for a reason and if you make the right decisions now, they will pay off in the future.

The moral of the story; whatever you want to do, wherever you see yourself going and whoever you see joining you on your journey – make it happen! Don’t be afraid to take risks because I was and now I have made decisions I wouldn’t of 3 years ago and I am genuinely happy.

This blog post was inspired by one of my closest friends having her last day of high school today and so I created a reflective ramble of my thoughts. 

Love always, Annabelle

xox