All was fine until I decided that I had had enough in the rock pool and I wanted to get out. Being only two foot tall this proved rather difficult. But I decided to persevere and eventually I made it out of the rock pool. I was so excited about this that I over balanced and carefully sat down in the rock pool. There have been happier moments in my life. I then proceeded to tell the whole beach that there was a serious crisis, and I let out an ear-piercing screech. I was hurriedly carried of the beach by two highly embarrassed parents and was whisked of back to the hotel to put on some new clothes. My mother then decided to take me to the hotel doctor to make sure that I had not got any bruises or a cold.
It generally rained on my first holiday, and so I usually played in the cresh, ate and slept. My parents read and my mother, while reading, watched me like a hawk. But when it did not rain, my parents would take advantage of the situation and we would all go on a brisk walk, and this is when the first two key stages in my life began. We were walking on a cliff and my mother put me on the ground and held me up and said, “I will hold on to you very tightly because it is much easier for you to fall of the cliff than me.”
Then………I very slowly walked over to my father and said, “ Easier.”
My mother nearly fell of the cliff. Clearly these were two huge break throughs in my life. I was finally properly coming to life.
Chapter 2: Two and a half – Five years old
These years were much more relaxing for my parents, can you believe it. There was no more breast-feeding crying (so much) and feeding every four or so hours. However easy I was to handle at two and a half, my mother understandably could not cope. This is why I had a nanny.
My nanny was called Alison and she slept with us, on the top floor of our house. Now Alison, being a lot younger than my mother, and having a lot more patience than my mother, was a great success. Alison took me for walks in the park, played with me, talked to me and while she was staying with us, her whole life revolved around us. I am sure that I liked this attention.
Now it was about this time that I went to nursery school. Since I began to walk in the previous summer, my mother wasted no time, and I walked, slowly with her, for the half a mile to the nursery school.
The nursery school was called the Wind Mill and was run by two very nice French ladies. On my first day at nursery school, half an hour after my mother had left me, and all the other children were settling down to a song, I was crying and saying, “I want out! Let me go back!”
I suppose that I did not really understand why I was going to nursery school. But after a few days, I stopped crying, to every ones relief, and began to enjoy myself.
At nursery school, I learnt to paint and hold a pen. I began to do simple maths and sums. I learnt to read and write simple letters. I played with my friends and listened to music played on a guitar.
Nursery school started at 9:00am and finished at 12:00pm. As I got older I finished nursery at 2:00pm. At the age of four I could eat by myself, read books and write. Alison built jigsaws with me and went swimming with me. My mother was very glad that she had found Alison.
But three months before I was five, Alison felt that she had done her duty and decided to leave. This came as a shock to my mother because she still had her nanny until she was twenty-one. It was a rather unfortunate time for her to leave because my birthday was crawling nearer and I would be starting pre prep school in September. Everyone was very sad to see Alison go, especially my mother, as Alison had done so much for the family.
Chapter 3: Five – Eight years old
September the 5th had arrived, and I was going to my pre-prep called Arnold House. The school was in walk able distance from my house. My father and I were very excited, and my mother was naturally nervous. The school was separated in to three parts. The junior school, the Middle school, and the senior school. One had to be in school at 8:30 am and one left school according to ones age.
My parents and myself walked in to the junior school, where the teachers immediately greeted us, who welcomed us in. My mother at once greeted all the parents and tried to make as many friends as possible for me, my mother has been greatly talented in this way. My father merely stood still, pretending to be interested in his surroundings, but secretly far more interested in the drinks available!
When it was time for my parents to unwillingly leave, we all settled down in to our prearranged classes and began to get to know each other’s names. My teachers name was Mrs Huish. She was a middle-aged woman with dark black hair. She was very kind and had a lot of patience.
At a quarter past three my mother was standing outside the gates of Arnold House, anxiously awaiting my appearance. She was very worried that I would not like the school, but she was very wrong. I ambled out of Arnold House with a huge grin on my face, and before my mother could ask me how my day had been, I immediately blurted out,“ We had roast chicken and roast potatoes for lunch!”
My mother heaved a sigh of relief at this statement and knew that I had enjoyed my first day at school.
For the next two years I remained in the junior school until I was seven years old. I was still learning some basic skills and how to improve upon them. Life was generally the same for these two years. At the age of six I had made some very good friends among the junior school, with the help of my mother, who was naturally gifted in these matters.
At Arnold House we learnt all the core subjects as one does now, and also Art. The lessons got longer and progressively harder as one moved up the school. On the whole, I coped very well.
Unfortunately, since Arnold House was a day school in London, the facilities were rather poor. There was a small yard, to kick a football around in break and that was all.
As for sports, we travelled in a coach to Canons Park, where we played our various games. Games occurred every other day because the journey was reasonably long, and there was not enough room for the whole school to play at once.
Matches were held every Saturday against other London schools. Apart from playing Football, Rugby and Cricket the school went swimming once a week in the morning, missing first lesson. Extra curriculum activities were optional and were held after school on any day of the week. These included Judo, Short Tennis, Drama and Badminton. Each taking place on different days.
I could have stayed at Arnold House until I was thirteen. But at the age of seven, my mother was planning for me to go to Summer Fields. A boarding prep school up in North Oxfordshire. Why she decided this I do not know. But it was probably all for the better. I did not mind the idea at all. It would be nice to get out of London for a change. The idea of boarding appealed to me greatly. All I had to do, my mother said, was to pass a little exam to see if I was clever enough to get in. So sure enough, I left Arnold House to try and get in to Summer Fields.
When I arrived at Summer Fields to take my test, the school was much bigger than I had anticipated; I was dwarfed by its size, and the size of its grounds. I knew straight away that it was in my favour to pass this test. My parents appeared to be very calm about the whole matter. They kept telling me that it wouldn’t matter if I did not get in to Summer Fields because there were other good schools to go to at the time. They just wanted me to try my hardest.
The exam was in two sections, an English section and a Maths section. Each section was about half an hour long. We were put in to classrooms according to our surname. After the exam was finished, I was led back to my parents, looking a great deal happier and more relieved. After all, it was the first exam I had ever done. My parents were happy to see me. I had tried my best, but was it good enough?
It was on one of my last days at Arnold House, that the letter came. My mother had not yet opened the letter, because she was waiting for me to get back from school. We all went to the kitchen, where upon I hurriedly opened the letter. Only one line was important too me, and there it was, staring at me proudly in big bold letters, I had passed in to Summer Fields.
My parents could hardly control their joy, for they were not entirely that I would pass, and how I would take he news if I didn’t. I felt a huge warm gleam of pride inside me for I knew that it was a good thing to get in to Summer Fields. So I was whisked out of Arnold house and thrown in to Summer Fields. My life was changing completely.
During the Summer Holidays I celebrated my victory with my parents. In the last week of the holiday, we went around London to find me all the clothes and Linen that I would need for Radley. There was an extraordinary amount of it. With that done, I waited until September 5th came, and I would be starting a new school, and adapting to a knew life.
Chapter 4: Eight – Thirteen years old
As my parents left out of the main drive, to head back to London, my mother crying of course, my father unaware of my mothers great predicament, I knew that I would miss them, for it would be several weeks until I next saw them.
I was nervous and worried that I would find it hard to make new friends. Perhaps I would not fit in or the other boys would not like me? But my worries were merely fictional.
The next morning after breakfast, we all settled down in our specific classes. My class was 1L, and my teacher was called Mrs Patsey Logan. She was a very soothing kind little lady of reasonable age.
After my first week of school, I began to get the gist of the old place. I was learning my way around the school very fast. The fascinating thing I thought about Summer Fields was that it offered so much more to do, so many more opportunities, and so much more fun, than I could ever have had at Arnold House, or ever imagined having.
Each year slept in different Houses according to ones age. There were eight Socials, or Lodges as we called them. Borva, Upper House, Lower House, Newton, Beach House, Front Lodge, Cottage and Mayfield. During my first year I was in Borva.
Mr and Mrs McNeill were my house parents. They were very friendly and kind hearted. They helped me conquer homesickness, which is not I assure you, an easy thing to conquer when you first start at boarding school. I went through such pain in my first year at Summer Fields over homesickness, but it was worth it. I probably would not be sitting here writing this essay if I did not go to Summer Fields.
The facilities at Summer Fields were astounding. We had two swimming pools, one indoor pool and one outdoor pool. There was a sports hall, two Eton Fives courts and three Squash courts. We had about seven Tennis courts; two grass courts and five tarmac courts. We had 50 acres of land, with a nine-hole golf course, to play our games on, with three pavilions. We played Football in the Michaelmas, Rugby in the Lent and Cricket in the summer term. We had good experienced coaches.
After my first term at Summer Fields, I began to get used to the hard schedule and grasp the general ideas and prospects of the school. I knew my way round very well, and knew the names of the teachers who taught me.
At the end of my first year at Summer Fields, I had built up a lot of self confidence and had made a lot of knew friends. I was very self content and I knew that after the Summer, I would go back to Summer Fields, in my second year, a lot happier and more confident than before.
During the next three years, nothing very much happened. My teachers changed, and I changed lodges, according to what year I was in at the time. But in the fifth and final year at Summer Fields, it was a little different.
On my first day back at Summer Fields, being a fifth year, I felt much more superior and important. So did my fellow colleagues. Whether this was because I was in my last year, or a prefect, I do not know.
As soon as lessons started we were instantly put under constant pressure. The masters were working quicker and the amount of work we were set was rapidly rising. Until then, life had been relatively easy at Summer Fields. But now, it had become much harder. Masters were becoming stricter and more irritable. I suppose that it was the ‘Common Entrance Phobia’, which has spread around the country, to spring upon its unlucky victims, and not surprisingly, it had sprung on me.
In the past during, the holidays, no work had been set, and one could actually have a holiday. But in the fifth year, you are deprived of this extra pleasure and can hardly have a holiday, because there is three hours worth of each subject to be done, over the holidays.
My parents were giving me all the help they could, but the summer term was edging closer, far too quickly. More and more work I did, and closer and closer the dreaded days were coming when I was to take my Common Entrance, and try to pass in to one of the best public schools in the country, Radley.
The entire half-holidays and Sundays that I had in the summer term were spent revising and doing extra work that had been set. We were being pushed to the limits to finish work, and then get set more. We were like robots doing a never-ending duty.
Eventually the dreaded four days arrived. I remember them so vividly that it scares me, even now. We sat in a big long room, filled with four rows of desks and aisles for the invigilator to walk down. My heart was throbbing quickly and adrenaline was rushing through my body like water over sand.
When Common Entrance was over, one would think one could relax. But you would be wrong, one could not. We could only relax when we knew for sure if we had got in to our prospective schools.
The day came when we were to be told our results. The waiting was torture, but the news was good! I rang up my parents and said, “ Unfortunately…you are going to have to pay the school fees for Radley!” My parents were overwhelmed with joy to here such good news. It was a huge relief of my chest. From then on, it was all fun and games, until next September, when I would be starting public school, Radley.
Chapter 5: Thirteen – Fourteen years old
The summer holidays before I went to Radley, was one of the best of my life. I did not pick up a pen, or use my brain in any excessive way what so ever. Life was bliss, and I was enjoying it. I was also excited and nervous about starting Radley.
On my first day at Radley, I realised how different it was to Summer Fields. Instead of being a big person in a little school, I became a very small boy in a very big school. Also, in your first year at Radley, you are given more responsibilities and people expect a lot of you. I thought that I was going to find it hard to make friends, but being in ‘A’ Social with Mr Wesson and a really nice group of boys, nothing could go wrong. I made many friends and am really enjoying life at Radley. The work is hard but it is worth it just to be here.
I am now in my second term at Radley and life is still great, especially as I have no major exams in the near future. I am very glad and lucky to be able to come to this school.
What ever is going to happen next in my life, I do not know. But what I do know is that I have a lot of people to thank, especially my parents, for bringing to this stage so far. I am very grateful to them and all that they have done.
So here is my life in a Nut Shell.
