7 YEARS ON...

I remember joining this school in Year 7. 2016. I remember walking through the front gate, lugging my backpack, PE bag and hockey stick around - after having my mum force me to do a brief photoshoot for all the relatives who wanted to “see how handsome I looked” – and sitting in the Coleman Hall, in front of Mr Gartside, as he told us that we would be here until at least 2021, maybe even 2023. I remember scoffing at the thought of that; seven years? Well, I’ve already been alive for eleven (nearly twelve), that’s ages away. If only I could go back to young George, with his dodgy quiff, and tell him that, no. Unfortunately, these years will fly by. So, make sure you cherish them as much as you physically can, because before you know it, you’ll walk out the school’s doors as a student for the last time.

It’s a weird feeling leaving school. Despite the fact that we all know it’s coming, it doesn’t make it any less disconcerting or difficult. Fourteen years of education, over in a morning of fun and speeches. It has still not sunk in that my time at AGSB is over, but it makes me immensely proud and happy that as I look back on my time at the school, nearly every single memory I have is a positive one. The lunchtime football games, the GCSE science lessons, even online lessons were filled with entertaining moments. Admittedly, I believed the last few weeks of my AGSB career would be filled with emotions of nostalgia, retrospection and overwhelming anxiety. I thought I would be nervous to let go the comforts of the routine, the familiar faces, the surroundings. But as I’ve come more and more to terms with it, I’ve found myself feeling the exact opposite. The perfect mix of being excited, ready and enthusiastic.

As I think back and reflect on my time here, I can’t help but marvel at how much things have changed, and how much the people around me have changed as they’ve honed their individual proficiencies, skills and niches to become specialists at their preferred topics. The extensive range of sport, extracurriculars, supercurriculars and subjects that we have the pleasure of choosing between is part of the reason why I, and we as students, have the ability to prosper and develop as much as we do. And it’s been fantastic as Head Prefect to have been able to see my friends and peers find their vocation and become passionate about it.

My shtick while I’ve been at AGSB has always been one thing and one thing only: Publications. I’ll never forget asking Mr Williams how to join the committee and having to go through the interview process, and then slowly working my way up the ranks in the committee to becoming the first ever student to be Editor of the committee. I’ve always been known for my work in Publications over anything else, and it’s part of the reason why I was able to aspire for Head Prefectship and it’s a proud part of my identity as a student. It fills me with immeasurable pride to know that my name is permanently etched on over 30 editions of our magazines and annual reviews, the most of any student ever. Even as I write this, it seems bizarre to read back and is surely something I’ll never take for granted, along with the awards we’ve won along the way.

On that note, I think it’s time for me to finally sign off for the final time, as much as I’ve been trying to stall away from it. Thank you to my Senior Prefect team for being fantastic – we were a well-oiled machine and I like to think we had fun along the way. Thank you also, of course, to my subject teachers and form tutors, Mr Murray, Mr Wright and just to the school itself. It’s been a privilege and an honour to serve this school and being at AGSB for the last seven years has been an incredible, life-altering experience. Despite the fact that I’m leaving aged 18, I feel like the lessons learnt will lead me through my future indefinitely.

G Thornicroft