Advice from Alumnae

Dear school age self...

You may remember we reached out to you in June with a survey to ask about your strongest memories of school. The response was overwhelming so we thought we’d share some snippets of your wonderful reflective advice to your school-age self. Enjoy!

• Grab every opportunity with open arms and cherish your time at school because it flies by. • Keep the end in sight, get the qualifications, get a job you are okay with and pays you what you need. • Believe that you are intelligent regardless of how you are treated. • Enjoy learning for pleasure. • Don’t worry so much. When you’re 70 you won’t remember your exam results!

• Work harder. • Could do better! • Everything passes in the end - good time and hard times. You will always have the strength to deal with the things life throws at you and you will always make it out of the other side knowing more about yourself than you did before. • Have more confidence in yourself. • There is a huge world outside of school, go explore and have fun. • Stress less. • Yes, it really doesn’t matter what people say or think about you, and however cruel the bullies are, they will look back and regret their actions in the future. • Stop messing around, stop being the class clown, work harder and make the most of your school days. • You will always be grateful for the education you received and the friends you made. Believe it.

• It’ll all be fine in the end- enjoy it and don’t worry. • Keep on throwing yourself into every opportunity as time is such a precious resource in real adult life! Make the most of being with your friends day in day out as they can be friends for life and you will all live apart! • Just make the most of this time, it’s precious. • No one can see 95% of your nerves. Keep going and don’t tolerate men talking over you. Don’t treat yourself worse than you would treat a friend. Appreciate your enormous luck in living now and here and being given this chance. • Have confidence and make the choices that you want to make. • You’re doing better than you realise! • Try to relax a bit. Yes exams are important, but they’re not the end of the world. • Cherish every carefree moment. • Learn your French vocabulary with some form of discipline! • You may never be the top of the class but you will find something that you are amazing at and then it is your time to shine.

• Take every opportunity offered. • If you don’t understand, say so, and ask ask ask straight away! Which, having not done it myself,

I constantly told my daughters to do. • Would have worked and tried harder academically. • Stick in and seek advice for future career prospects. • Don’t take notice of what bullies say and enjoy school life. • Read more. Don’t stop reading when the internet starts dominating lives. Learn how to ask for help. Go abroad and learn a language. All the mistakes you make now aren’t the end of the world - you’ll figure it out.

• Be yourself and don’t worry about what other people think or say. • Enjoy life but work harder. • Stop being bitchy for no reason. • It will all be fine in the end. • Try and understand “why”.

• Read more. Find some good mentors. School is very much about formal education but learning how to be an adult is an art not taught. • Work harder. Don’t mess about - it determines the rest of your life. • Just be yourself and don’t worry so much about what other people might think. Don’t be afraid to admit your dreams and desires. • Just enjoy it all more, goes by in a flash. • It doesn’t matter if everyone likes you. What matters is that you like yourself.

• We can’t be good at everything but we can be kind to everyone. • I wish I hadn’t been so sensitive and naive and stood up more for myself. • Try your best. Believe in yourself. Also, just because you struggle with something, you are still clever. • Stop caring what everyone else thinks! • Believe in yourself and don’t be afraid to be who you are! • Grades aren’t everything, just try your best at what you enjoy. Be gracious to yourself, there’s a lot going on and you’ll learn more about your mental health in time. • Believe in yourself. • Life is full of ups and downs, just make the best of what you’ve got and don’t worry about what’s around the corner.

• Care less what people think of you! • Keep at it but enjoy it too. • Listen and take advantages of the opportunities and experiences. They will never come again and you were very privileged to have them offered to you. • Be more confident and appreciate what you have at school. • Be brave and don’t worry what others think. • Have fun! . • Work harder. Ignore your mother! Ask for help.

• Follow your dream and be brave. I did and was, as time went on.

FOOD glorious FOOD

On a lighter note, we also asked you what you thought about the food while you were at school. Girls at NHSG often cite lunchtime as a favourite part of their day - it appears some of your experiences were a little different! Here are some of your responses (warning - it may put you off your next meal!)...

BEST!

• Geoff’s ham and cheese baguettes • Shortbread biscuits • Spotted dick • Lemon meringue pie • Mrs Marfett-Smith’s meat pie • Ice cream and wafer sandwiches • Otis Spunkmeyer cookies - lots of giggles there • Chips - I liked them soggy! • Smartie cookies • Buns with icing on - I used to put chips in them! • Chocolate pudding with chocolate custard • 2p garlic bread • Beef and yorkshires • Steamed ginger pudding • Christmas dinner • Cherry tart • Syrup sponge and custard • Jam roly poly and custard • Cookies • Lasagne • Trifle • Cheese and biscuits with coffee

WORST!

• Roast potatoes like ice hockey pucks • Corn beef hash - it was horrible • Stew - I still feel sick if I think about it • Processed peas and white sauce with fish on Fridays • Sombrero shaped beef burgers and liver • Stewed prunes and tomatoes in juice • Lumpy mashed potato - with onions • Semolina/tapioca pudding - fondly known as

‘woodpecker poo’ • Gristly mince • Spam fritters • Custard with inch thick skin on top • Lamb chops • Green jelly - sometimes with crunchy bits • Rice pudding with jam - it looked like pink sick! • Suet pudding • Cannonball peas • Massive portions of butter beans • Undercooked rice • Fish fingers every Friday for 7 years • All disgusting if you were vegetarian! • Plain pasta • Cold salad - limp and unappetising • Cheese pie • Quiche • Custard - the cook tested the temperature with her elbow... • They were all absolutely awful. When the dining room was upstairs in Eskdale Terrace school dinners were only compulsory for Upper III (Year 7). There was a convenient hole in the wall where plaster and brickwork had come away. I always tried to get to sit next to the hole or next to the radiator. All of my school dinners landed in one or other of those places for my entire UIII year! • Everything in gravy!

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