Open evening - two words that create a bubbling ball of nerves, excitement and anticipation for both teachers and students alike. It is a day written down in calendars as soon as it is confirmed, and many plans cleared for it to happen.
For the students, open evening makes many memories for the girls at DGGS. The day of open evening, everyone will be rushing around, eager to discuss their after-school plans with their friends. Students wait anxiously for the bell to ring, and the minute it does, they become ruthless and unforgiving in pushing past others to get to their favourite fast food restaurants before they become swamped with their peers.
Lines from restaurant extend out of the shops, the workers working at twice their usual speed to provide for all. Every seat will be filled, leaving students to roam around, bags of KFC and McDonald’s in their arms. Dartford High Street will be packed, full of familiar faces in bottle green uniforms.
Once 5:30 comes around, the students would start to make a slow descent back to school. Nerves grow in the stomach of the younger years, with the older years already knowing most of the route off the top of their heads. Bags are dumped in a tiny room, students get registered, name tags found and stuck onto blazers. Year 8, 9 and some of Year 10 wait anxiously in the canteen for the first parents to walk through. The other half of Year 10 and all of Year 11 sit in the hall, ready to guide 2+ families at once. The minute the first family walks in, everyone sits up straight, nervous but inviting smiles plastered over their faces. A quick shake of hands, and an exchange of names, and then the night truly begins.
Questions are answered with little to no hesitation, routes are mostly followed correctly, and tips shared with the year 6’s. Relieved smiles and high fives are shared between friends as they pass by each other. Every classroom is packed with brilliantly organised schoolbooks, and beaming teachers as they explain their subject and play games with the families. Year 7’s are eager to communicate with those they know, showing them around the rooms, and talking about their new school excitedly.
After all the rush of excitement, the tours finish and goodbyes are said and exhausted students leave the school, thankful for the late start the next day. The next day, the craziest stories are shared, and school life resumes as normal.
