Every September, at every secondary school in the country, new faces are introduced into a totally new world from what they are used to. These new faces are as we all know excitable and energetic, fresh faced 11 year olds, joining the local high school in Epping forest, whether it be the recently ‘Outstanding’ from Ofsted Debden Park, or perhaps specialised schools such as West Hatch and Davenant, which are more subject focussed. Despite the initial enthusiasm however we soon begin to realise the many social issues and problems that come with seeing thousands of unknown faces every day, and hundreds around your age group.

I think all of us can say that joining secondary school was a time in which we were eager to branch out into different groups of friends and explore what we are truly passionate about, although at the same time we remain nervous and cautions due to the sometimes overwhelming scale of it all. I recently took part in an interview with new Year 7 at Debden Park, Zak Kern in the form 7P, to try and re-capture the true essence and nature of joining a brand new environment, full of new people and new teachers. Here is how I got on;

“So Zak, we’ve all been in your shoes once but tell us how was your first day at a brand new school, and what was the one prominent emotion your felt?”

“Well, I thought everyone was really welcoming and kind to me and the rest of the Year Sevens, so I’ve really enjoyed it so far. I was really nervous at the start of the day but now I’m fine.”

“That’s good to hear, also one more question, did you have any trouble making friends or was that not an issue?”

“No not really, I joined from Lambourne so lots of my friends from primary school are here too, but other new year sevens who joined without any friends were really encouraged by the teachers to make friends by putting us in random groups to take part in team building exercises.”

So in conclusion its clear to see that joining somewhere new is never easy. From my interview I learned that teachers in our local area are very supportive of new year sevens in helping them settle in not just mentally but socially as well.

By Teddy Chamberlain, Debden Park High School