Since we were the new kids, we had to assemble in the school hall with the rest of our year to have a talk with our head of year. It was easy to find as it was just through the foyer. We pushed open the bulky doors and suddenly a wave of deafening noise came gushing into my ears. Mobs upon mobs of children were all over the place. Everyone was in their friendship groups from primary school, and we found ours after several minutes of pushing between the herds of kids. There was the unfamiliar whiff of a new place in the atmosphere.
In a split second the noise went from thunderous to silent, when our year head Mr King entered the room. Everyone instantaneously sat down like a dog obeying its owner, as Mr King gave us the instructions for the day. After about fifteen minutes of worthless gibberish, we went on to our first lessons.
The corridors were like a swarming maze. Everyone was crammed in, grabbing on to people’s bags so they wouldn’t be pushed over. Finally after taking a few wrong turnings we found the right class and sat in our friendship groups. This lesson was maths, and we watched one of those mind-numbing educational videos. Our teacher, Mrs Branfield had a strong Somerset accent, and was a nice teacher. She wasn’t too strict but she had the class under control. I was good at maths back then, so it soon became one of my favourite subjects. I was entered into the Maths Challenge that year, and came out with a Bronze certificate, which was good for my year. Our first lesson sped past and we now were on the mission to find our next class.
I was on my own now as no one I knew was in my D.T class. I asked the teacher where my next classroom was, and finally found it after following some kids I recognised from my last lesson.
When I found the class I went and sat with a girl I didn’t know. We were told the projects we’d be making that year which was a drawing board and an alarm, both of which didn’t turn out too good. This lesson too sped past and next was my first recess.
Recess was the chance to catch up with the gossip from the first two lessons, have a snack and find out what different teachers were like. This was only 15 minutes long, and it was then time for my next lesson. But what I wasn’t prepared for was my first telling off.
I was with a group of friends for my next lesson, science, and we found the classroom without difficulty. Stood at the front of the class was the teacher. He had jet-black hair, and to me at the time came across as about eight foot tall, a giant. He was stood cross-armed with an evil glare in his eye. Everyone sat down quickly in silence. We went straight to the back of the room and found a table.
It was just when the teacher started the register that I remembered a great joke I’d heard from the night before. I was so eager to tell it, I thought if I whispered it very quietly he wouldn’t notice. How more mistaken could I have been? I was just reaching the punch line when…
“YOU AT THE BACK!!!” yelled the teacher pointing a long finger at me, “YOU BETTER SHUT IT OR I’LL MAKE YOU WORK IN SILENCE”.
Now for a new year seven, this is the most terrible, awful, terrifying thing that could possibly happen on your first day at a new school. I managed to mumble a pitiful sorry in a trembling voice. I sunk into my chair and started picturing my year ahead; how my science teacher would fail me in every exam and hold a grudge against me for the rest of the year. I worked in silence for the rest of the lesson, and it went by at a snail's pace.
Following the worst lesson of my life so far, the rest of the day went by surprisingly fast. My next lesson was art and we just looked at different paintings, followed by lunch where we gossiped on my scolding in science.
My last lesson was Drama, where we just went round telling each other our names, where we came from etc etc etc. It was then such a relief when at three twenty the bell went to go home. I had done it. I’d got through my first day at school with only a few minor pushes in the corridor and just one piece of homework.
I met up with Vicki outside the entrance and walked home pondering about our next five years in Bishop Fox’s Secondary School.
