School's Out :)

I think Kendrick is the only school determined to hold onto it's students until the bitter end. And what did the last day of school consist of for these obvious geeks - it's a grammar school, they must've worked all days. That's the general expectation of us. But I can assure you that none of us did anything of the kind. You seriously expect us to work on our last day because of some label we all curse anyway? Shame, sorry for the disappointment.

We, the geeks of Reading, watched Zoolander, cleaned out our form rooms, went to final assembly, and finished the day with hugs for everyone and anyone we knew. I'm not going to bore you of the details of all of these things, but I will take the time to tell you about the bits that touched my heart the most.

First there was part of the final assembly. The part where we say goodbye to some teachers. Mrs Carr, assistant head and French teacher; some science teacher, head of biology I think; Mrs Giddings, head of classics who's been with us for thirty years; Frau Byrne, legend. I'm not going to go on and on about them, but I can safely say that Mrs Giddings and Frau Byrne (especially Frau Byrne) will be missed the most. Despite the fact Frau Byrne's going to the Abbey (Traitor!). Frau Byrne's speech went like this:
"Guten Tag, Kendrick"
"Guten Tag, Frau Byrne"
"Not nearly good enough. Guten Tag, Kendrick"
"GUTEN TAG, FRAU BYRNE!"
Then she started in German, with a quote "Abschinendsworte mussen kurz sein wie eine Liebeserklaerung" (Words of goodbye should be short, like a decleration of love) And after saying how much she would miss us, etc etc and making every girl in the room want to cry, she left us with a promise.
"I will never wear green"
And then as she was applauded, Ruth and I did something we'd been terrified to do, but wanted to none the less. We stood up. And - thankfully - almost the whole of the sixth form followed. Though the junior school was somewhat less adventurous.

I've never been taught by Mrs. Giddings. But her speech made me want to hug her. She's retiring. She can remember the days of red and black jumpers, and of black blazers with silver embroidery. The days of grass! When Mrs Elms didn't build on every area of green ;)

The assembly ended with Mrs. Elms saying what has become her tagline: Go. Straight. Home. And the entire school joining in. And as the last bell went, the whole school ran screaming into the corridors and out of the school. Everyone stopped in the car park to gather themselves - and hug anybody in sight - and then we left. Some of us happily, relieved to have managed another year without serious mishaps, and some of us a little sadly. Because our time in Kendrick's shorter than we realised.

I'm going to miss everyone this holiday. Not just from Kendrick. From all my extra-curricular things, and not least, from the train.
Love to all,
Alicia
xxxxxx