What I wish I’d known before I went to an all girls’ catholic secondary school
Photo Credit: Anna Woods
When it came the time to make a list of school’s I wished to attend for the next 7 years of my life, I chose two all-girls schools and one mixed school. Coming from a mixed primary school, I didn’t particularly have a preference; the only difference would be that if I went to an all-girls school, I wouldn’t have to bother with putting on makeup or worrying what I looked like every day.
Of course, I had the initial worries about how an all girl’s school would be. Would there be cliques? Would there be a group of popular girls who thought they were supreme to the rest of us? Would the cafeteria look like something from Mean Girls? I chose to take the risk, as the girl’s school I put at the top of my list was one of the best schools in the area and one of the oldest.
At first, I tried to make a group of friends and thankfully after a little while I settled in. Throughout my time at the school I predictably witnessed a few fights and arguments, being called into the deputy heads office (who terrified everyone at the time), as witness to one of them. Cliques developed and there was an undeniable popular group who people tried to fit in with; feeling privileged if they were invited to one of their parties.
However, due to the fact there were no boys in the school, when it came to the time when we had to have events with the local boys’ school, everyone panicked- trying to look their best and impress them. It was particularly hilarious thinking back, about the school discos we had with the boys- seeing girls going to town to Jane Norman or other such shops to buy a brand new outfit for the event. It happened every three weeks or so, with some sort of ‘drama’ happening on the night, which caused the inevitable gossiping when we went back to school on Monday. Such stories such as ‘Oh did you see so and so kiss him in the field’ or something similar. It was a big thing especially if you kissed a boy and got to dance with him. When the disco was at the boys’ school, comically the last song was ‘Hero’ by Enrique Iglesias, which brought couples, or soon to be couples together for a slow dance. I never experienced this however, leaving me walking around by myself whilst my friends danced. When the song ended and the lights were all turned on, all of the girls attempted to leave hurriedly, worrying what they looked like after three hours of dancing.
Over the years I tried to ‘people please’, trying to be friends with everyone, which suited me as I hardly had any arguments and luckily had a friend in each of my classes. By the end however, the maliciousness and backstabbing became tiresome. People would pretend to be your friend (and often be in your friendship group) then proceed to be horrible behind your back. When I reached sixth form I found new friends and no longer cared about what people thought of me.
From realizing that it didn’t matter what people thought, the friends I made by being myself were far more genuine and I have become far less self-conscious. Thus, what I wish I’d known is, just be yourself and those who stick by you are true friends.
