Changes into the Adult World
This follows on from http://onlydjw.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/childhood-school-life.html
At the time of my GCSE’s, I had no idea what I wanted to do after school, but A levels were the natural progression I was expected to follow, and so I returned to William Farr School in September 2003 to study for A Levels.
In the sixth from, things were a bit different. Aside from the obvious differences, and being a bit older, to me the change of structure, or rather possibly the reduction in structure, took time to get used to. Whilst I had now dropped the difficult subjects, and many of the people with whom I perhaps had the most difficulties getting on with were no longer there, there was an emphasis on spending more time with the others studying the same subjects, and helping each other out more, as well as there being more social time.
During the previous year, the emphasis towards the importance of exams had hit school life, and the resultant “seriousness” had pushed the issues I’d had to one side somewhat. Now, with the changes, they returned. The learning and lesson time became harder as I felt like I was forcing myself into supposed friendships so that I could progress – where before I could learn from the teacher or a text book by myself, I now had to learn with others. Outside of the lessons, there was an emphasis to spending the “free” periods learning with these others too. I found a couple of issues here – the same issue of friendship groups that I never seemed to be able to break into, or that there wasn’t enough to occupy the whole time, and so the study time became socialising instead, which was, to me, wrong.
I struggled to come around to this. During year 11, a lot of the individual support I had received for the previous few years stopped, either through the focus towards exams and learning, or that I apparently either wasn’t responding to their help or was rejecting it. All I remember was an increasing pressure towards doing what they said, which did not make me feel any happier. Whether or not I really tried everything that I was told to try, and how much of a difference those things really would have made, I don’t know. The outcome was that I was left out there in the world on my own, and this showed more once I was in the Sixth Form.
Fairly quickly, I started to look for ways to fill the gaps in my time. I started to look back at the good times I’d had over the summer at work, and I remember wishing on a number of occasions that I could still be there. At the time, I had a very narrow picture, and money wasn’t an issue to me either. The simple matter was that my Dad couldn’t pay me enough, or justify employing me, as his business wasn’t big enough at that time. What I did crate was an opportunity during the week to do some work for my Dad – Wednesday afternoons was set aside for what was basically PE (although given some fancy title). Now I’m not sporty at all, and it frustrated me to be wasting an afternoon every week. Eventually, my parents and I persuaded the school to let me go to work for the afternoon instead, which is what I did. That was much more beneficial for all of us, and it allowed me to keep in touch with things in the business twice each week (the second time being on Saturday mornings). I think I also had no lesson at the end of the Friday afternoon, and I regularly went to work then too instead of sitting around at school doing the studying we were supposed to be doing (I’m not sure many people in my position did a lot of studying during this particular part of the week)!
During the autumn, I visited a couple of universities for the first time, and the school picked me out to go on a visit to
Towards Christmas, an alternative did start to come together. My parents were offered the chance to take over another, larger garage in Nettleham (where we lived). I think even they were aware that I wasn’t happy at school, and I think that, particularly my Dad, saw me achieving things and being satisfied whilst working for him. Discussions took place over Christmas about the opportunity, and we decided that as a family, we would take over the business offered to us, and I was asked to consider joining the business to run the reception, and take over the purchasing, which would allow Dad to be the mechanic he wanted to be.
When I returned to school, we had a meeting between my parents, the school and me about the discussions and plans. There was a very mixed reaction from the school – those staff who knew me well were behind what I was doing, but many felt I would not be reaching my full potential, and I am very aware that I was expected to have done well at A Levels and gone on to university – something I was now not doing. It was decided (partly against my wishes at that time), that I would stay and finish my AS Levels at the end of that year – the take over not actually being until June anyway, although many plans were made before then.
Those remaining months at William Farr were just as difficult. There were a few people who I got on with during that final year, and I really don’t know what I would have done without their support. Things did not get any easier, and in some cases, the time became harder, as some of the teachers effectively gave up on me. When the exams came around, I did them, and worked in between them. We moved all of the garage equipment over one weekend in April, and with the business now being based in Nettleham instead of in the middle of Lincoln
I remember my last day being a little strange, as I was the only one leaving. There was nothing specific going on, and I wasn’t really that bothered. I knew I was moving on, to what I hoped would be a better place, and an environment the better suited me. Looking back, I never really had many strong friendships – I did have friends, but unlike most, I didn’t have that group of close friends (if I did, they weren’t through school). I left to start something new, and so that’s what I did. I started full time work for my parents company the day after my last AS level exam, and am still there to this day, 8 years later.
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