On the last day of Year 13, traditionally people at our school dress up, play a few harmless "pranks" and then settle down for a two hour assembly before going out playing on the inflatables on the field then getting ready for prom. We did just this and it was the most amazing day and night.
My friends and I decided to dress up as hippies on the last day so we all bought a tie-dye t-shirts and accessories and then we thought in one free we could do a hippie protest! So we organised a date to make some protest signs, begged my Chemistry teacher to lend us her pop-up tent so that we could block a corridor between form time and period 1 with a mini-protest and got to work.
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| Our protest signs |
After the usual "Woo last ever Maths/Physics/Further lesson!" on Thursday, Friday morning finally arrived and naturally waking up at 5:30 from excitement started the day. We all met at a friends house for a champagne breakfast before school for pictures and so we could all arrive together. After pictures and luscious cakes made by our host we headed to school in our fancy dress, excited to see everyone in their fancy dress costumes.
After bumping into a load of Breaking Bad guys in full yellow hazmat suits, we got our signs and our tent and went to set up in the main corridor of the school for our protest. As the bell rang to signal the end of form time, we were ready.
The first trickle of kids and staff moving about the school started to pass us and we started our chant "Say no to nuclear! Make love not war!" with the occasional "Save the penguins!" thrown in there too. Most people looked a little bemused by the whole thing but we got a few people joining in (Make war not love was very popular amongst a group) and I'm sure a couple of people turned round and walked back past us. We were a little worried when the deputy head walked past not that we stop chanting or anything but he smiled and chuckled to himself so we got away with it.
We then moved to go see our friends briefly before I had to go to my Chemistry lesson which was basically just cake and goodbyes. The other half of our friendship group (basically, the boys) came as penguins and between 1st and 2nd period they decided to huddle in the main corridor where we were previously and block the way which was very funny until they got disbanded by a grumpy teacher.
Then we settled in for our assembly and we got a good look at everyone's costumes. We had superheroes, Red Indians, Pink Ladies, a swat team, escaped convicts, cowboys, pimps & hoes (with the girls as pimps) and a few other odd bits scattered around.
We went through all of the awards and some funny/embarrassing videos and I was very happy to be nominated (with 6% of the vote!) for Best Smile which was lovely. We then had some burgers, hot dogs and Coca-Cola provided free of charge by the sixth form before heading onto the field to the inflatables for some fun.
On the field we had a bouncy castle, an inflatable assault course, a bungee run and the sumo suits for wrestling. It was great fun going on all of the things and after lots of pictures with all my friends, we started to disperse to get ready for prom!
I again went to a friends house for a few glasses of champagne before prom and it was so great to see everyone in their dresses and suits and we had a few photos and then we headed up to school so we could get the buses to prom. The entire year gets onto a couple of double decker buses and we travel together to prom.
Once we were there, we got a professional photo taken at the door and a free glass of champagne and we then found a seat after looking around to see where things were. We had a professional photo booth in one room and then a silly photo booth at the bottom of the stairs with all sorts of props that you could use.
The night was full of dancing, laughter and photos interjected with a buffet dinner spread. We eventually managed to get even the most stubborn people dancing and watching the whole year doing the Cha Cha Slide and the Macarena in a tipsy state was highly amusing.
At the end of the night, some buses went into town and some went back to school. Being 18, I went into town which was filled with some more drinking, dancing and laughter.
I eventually got back home at 5:00 on Saturday morning and finally, after 23 and half hours of being up and on my feet, I closed my eyes on the best day of my school life with the most amazing people.
Chellaston is the school I've been at since Year 7 and in Sixth Form I made so many new friends who came from different schools and it really is the end of an era leaving there. I won't forget the thousands of memories I have from my time there.
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