What A Levels do you take?
English, Politics, French, and Theatre Studies.
Without offending any of your teachers, which is your favourite?
Gut feeling: English.
Are there any subjects you wish you could’ve taken in addition?
I always lament that I didn’t do GCSE History, which, when everyone in my Politics class starts talking about the Bay of Pigs and the Cuban missile crisis, does seem to be useful. But then I look at how many textbooks they have, and fact tests, and I think mm, maybe not. I also think RS might’ve been nice as well, and I enjoyed GCSE Spanish.
What are your favourite non-academic things about the school?
I really like (and I say this on open days, but I honestly feel it, it’s not put on) that it’s cool to get stuck in, and actually, if you’re not a ‘try-hard’, if you’re ‘too cool for school’, it’s a bit boring, and people don’t necessarily feel they should respect you more for that.
What have you most enjoyed about being head girl?
I really like open days, as you might be able to tell, especially one we did with four year eights, because it was really nice getting to know them; and we haven’t been able to do much with other years given the COVID bubbles. It was really lovely.
What is your favourite school memory (and you can pick a couple if you can’t choose one)?
I think some of the trips have been really good. I loved Arvon a lot. All of the school productions as well. I did Romeo and Juliet in Year 11 but my character died by the interval, so on those nights I just got to nap for the end, and it was incredibly cozy! I was in M11 with a blanket over my head, leaning against the piano.
What are you most going to miss when you leave the school?
I’ll definitely miss the people who are still here, my friends in Year 12 and stuff. I’ll miss seeing Ms Kennedy around the place, y’know, shout out to her, she has a special place in my heart. Other things I’ll miss: I’ll be wistful that I didn’t get to see the build finished, so I’ll have to come back to have a look.
You don’t really need an excuse.
True.
What are your plans for next year?
Providing I get the grades, and if I don’t, I will have to take it up with my teachers, who are assessing the A Levels, I should be doing English Literature at Oxford, and another shout out to Ms. Kennedy because I’m going to her college. She told me, ‘I think this would be a great place for you, you’d get on well with the tutor,’ and I looked up her research interests, and she’s into feminism and queer theory, so I was sold.
What did you want to be when you grow up and is that still the same?
In Year 9 I had a very weird stage where I was like, ‘I would like to be a children’s doctor’, because I’d just had an operation, and my children’s doctor was really nice. And now look at me, I’m doing four essay subjects. Although I can still label an entire plant cell, which I’m proud of. That’s definitely changed though, I don’t want to be a doctor.
What do you want to do now, then?
I’ve been thinking about this recently. I’ve always said that I think teaching would be fun. However, I have realised that I might get really frustrated if people just weren’t trying or were saying something really inane, which you’re not really allowed to say in English, because technically there is no wrong answer. Then I thought, maybe be an academic, because hopefully you’d only teach people who are really good at your subject, and the other thing I thought was maybe political speech writing, but I think I’m too much of a control freak—I’d want to play god with whoever was delivering the speech.
What are you most looking forward to doing as COVID restrictions ease?
Theatre again, so much, one hundred percent!
Thought you’d say that!
What media (books/TV/music/etc) has been getting you through the pandemic?
I finally downloaded Spotify, because previously I just had a mishmash of playlists on Amazon Music or something that just didn’t make any sense, and honestly naming playlists is more fun than actually listening to them, so I’m having a good time with that. Reading James Baldwin is just a lovely, beautiful experience, and journaling as well. It’s not really media because I’m making my own media, but that too.
I think that still counts.
Yeah.
What other things make you happy?
I have to be really soppy and say my friends. I was about to say journaling, but I just spoke about that, but something I do with Charlotte D’Angelo is we video call and read out bits of our own journals. We clearly have no secrets; it’s a terrible violation of privacy, but we find it really funny.
What weird Buzzfeed personality quiz result has most struck your soul?
I think I once got told I was an octogenarian on something about furniture?
As in like…
Yeah, like ‘pick out a chair’, and I turned out to be 80+. The other thing I would recommend, if you’re bored of Buzzfeed, is if you go on to Sparknotes, as in the English literature ‘No Fear Shakespeare’ website, there are quizzes. I was told I was Mary Bennet a lot, which is disheartening, because I would rather be a Jane.
What is your favourite quote or song lyric?
My gut instinct of a favourite song lyric would be the whole of White Teeth Teens by Lorde, but it’s a bit depressing—I don’t want to say, ‘ooh, inspirational quote!’
What is the best piece of advice you’ve ever received?
I think this is publishable in Unconquered Peaks, however, if it’s not, I’m leaving soon. What are they gonna do, sue me? Are they gonna put me in detention? I was told in a little briefing meeting with the head girl team in the year above me, in SLT meetings, you have to find a way to circument Mr Turner’s speeches, because he does like to speak, and he speaks quite slowly, because he’s a good orator, but he also really gets absorbed, and he’s almost sort-of divinely possessed. It’s very intriguing to watch, but when you only have twenty minutes, they said, ‘you’ve gotta work it out, you’ve gotta find a solution,’ and that really did prove very valuable.
