Hello! My name’s Lauren, I’m 14 years old and in Year 9 at Howell’s School in Denbigh, which is a pretty town in North Wales. I joined Howell’s in September last year and I’m nearly at the end of an amazing first year here.My family is in the Army, and we were about to move again due to my dad’s job. We decided it would be a good idea for me to board, so I would be settled ready for my GCSE years. Someone at Dale Barracks said their daughter went to Howell’s and loved it there and that we should have a look – so we did! I really liked the School straight away, and had a ‘taster stay’ back in June 2009, which was really cool.
September 2009 I arrived at the boarding house at around 4pm on Sunday evening, with school starting the next day. The boarding house, St George’s, is really homely, with huge 50-inch plasma TVs and Nintendo Wiis for inter-dorm competitions. And all the girls have been really friendly to me, which has helped settle my nerves.
I was shown to my bed, which is in the Year 9 dormitory. Each dorm is divided into four ‘cubies’, which are like twin bedrooms. My mum helped me to unpack and to put up my posters and pictures, and we put my new duvet covers on my bed.
I’m sharing a cubie with Chelsea, who is also my ‘buddy’. Chelsea’s job is to help me find my way around school. I already know Chelsea as our dads both work in the same regiment and we have been in other schools together. She’s brilliant, and has said that she will help make sure I’m in the right place at the right time, and that I’ll soon get into the swing of things. She said our form group is really small, with only 14 girls.
The first day at school was really great. All new girls start a day before everyone else, and I have got to know lots of new girls. There is another boarder from Dale Barracks in the same year as me – and she is also called Lauren. I hope the teachers don’t get us confused!
I think I will soon get into the routine at Howell’s. There is lots to do... I don’t think I will have time to be bored!
October 2009 I can’t believe I have been here for four weeks already – it has gone so quickly! I was a bit sad when my parents moved to Catterick last week, but Miss Bagnall our boarding mistress noticed I was a bit down and got me cooking with her in our little kitchen.
Lessons are good fun and I’m getting to know the teachers.
I can’t believe how much fun being at school is! We do have to do homework, but we have a special quiet time in the boarding house to get it done. And the Year 10s are close by to ask if we get stuck. We have had lots of weekend trips and evening activities like indoor caving, DJ mixing and hip hop dancing. I really enjoyed our trip to the beach in Llandudno – the weather was really warm for September, and we also did some shopping and went to the cinema there.
Not long until half-term – I’ll get to see my family’s new house!
December 2009
Today was really exciting, but also quite tiring. First of all we had the BBC in school filming one of our sixth-formers, showing what life is like in boarding school. They filmed us in lunch, in lessons, taking part in climbing club, everywhere. I‘m going to be on TV!
On top of this, we’re currently performing Aladdin as our end-of-year production. All Year 7, 8 and 9 students take part, and the Great Hall was packed full of parents and staff. There was a lot to think about and to remember, and there were many costume changes and different dances. We were able to spend some of the day practising and getting our hair and make-up ready.
The show went really well, and I was very proud of myself as I had never done anything like it before. The funniest part was when our Headmaster, Mr Routledge, had to get up on stage and sing a song called ‘Wriggly Worm’. Everyone thought it was hilarious, especially his actions!
We break up for Christmas in a few days and I am going to meet my baby sister, Eve, for the first time – so exciting!
January 2010 Snow! School closed early today because we were snowed in. The teachers said they had never seen snow like it in Denbigh. We had such great fun – some day pupils, teachers and even parents had to stay the night at school because it was too dangerous to drive on the roads. We all had a big snowball fight and then our PE teacher, Miss Price, went and got some trays from the kitchen and we used them as sledges... what a great day!
I did feel a bit sorry for the horses at the Equestrian Centre, but when I went over to see them with an apple they were all tucked up in their stables with big thick rugs on and looked very happy munching their hay. My favourite is a black pony called Perry.
Brrrrrr! We are supposed to be ice skating in Chester at the weekend, but we don’t need to go there to do that!
February 2010
The Spring Ball! I do like being at an all girls school, because at my old school the boys used to mess around in class and it was really hard to concentrate. So when they said we were holding a Spring Ball at school, I wondered whether there would be any boys going. Then Chelsea told me we invite boys from local schools to come along – whoop!
This was a Masquerade Ball – we had to choose and buy a mask made by our Sixth Form Young Enterprise team, to match our dresses. My friend Sarah invited me to get ready at her house, and I went home with her on the school bus, had tea and we got ready together. When we walked inside the dining hall, it was amazing – so pretty. Fairy lights everywhere! We met up with all our friends and danced all night, and then I went back to Sarah’s for a sleepover! Didn’t talk to any of the boys – we were all a bit shy!
March 2010
March is the month of the inter-house fashion show. I’m in Bernhardt House and the sixth-formers in our house had to organise us into groups. The theme that Bernhardt House chose was ‘natural phenomena’, and my group were to be shooting stars.
We had to go to a fabrics shop to buy material, and then make our outfits for the show. Mine had to be gold and silver and sparkly, and I had great fun making it. Each group made up a dance based around our themes, and at the end we all danced in the Grand Finale.
We spent the day of the fashion show rehearsing, and every house thought they would win! I had never taken part in a fashion show before and it was really great fun, although a little bit scary on the catwalk dancing in front of so many people. But everyone else was doing it so I just went with the flow – and it was fab! Curie House won this year with their theme of ‘charities’. They were really good, and they all supported Help for Heroes, which is my favourite charity.
June 2010
It’s exactly a year since I first visited Howell’s. We have a busy last two weeks of term ahead... a trip to Alton Towers, watersports day at the Sailing Centre, inter-house sports day, inter-house show jumping at the Equestrian Centre, and inter-house tennis, rounders and swimming, as well as practising for the end-of-term School Eisteddfod (concert) and the historic Walkdown at Speech Day.
So much has happened, and I am really glad I came to this school. I feel I belong here – it’s my second home, and my friends are the best. I’m looking forward to the long summer holidays, but I also can’t wait until September to do it all again as I will miss my friends so much!