Postby The O » Sun Feb 26, 2006 2:25 pm
Good afternoon,
I'm here because people are misrepresenting our school. (Note: St James Pupil, this is how you spell our, not "are") I am currently in the St James' 6th Form, Year 12, it is brilliant. Not only are there no savage beatings or barbaric canings, but I get along with all of the teachers. There is not one that I can say that I could not possibly get along with. They are good and honest people, and the standard of teaching is very high. We now have women teachers under the age of 30, in fact my first teacher at St James was a lovely lady and now has 2 beautiful children, and her assistant was also a lady that I got on with very well and, she married a man that was in the very first class of St James and was head boy in St James. The women in St James Senior Boys School play a major role in the school, Mrs Lacey is a leader in the senior management team, Mrs Davids is a young lady who is deputy head of the Maths Department, she is respected by all, the head of Judo is a lady, the Head of French is a lady, The Heads of English are both women, they are all reasonable and honest people. None of the teachers would endanger a pupil or even harm them by their own reckless actions. The punishments are a hell of a lot less severe than the ones told by these ex-pupils, even lines have been abolished, there is no early morning circuit training, even a shower after rugby is no longer compulsory.
I have been in St James since I was 4 years old, and have thoroughly enjoyed it. I stayed in St James until I was 10, and then left to go to a local school, because my parents saw the trip all the way to Twickenham was too long, (I live in Hampstead, behind Sarum Chase.) I was disappointed, but decided to get on with my life, I first went to a local, well reputed, state school, which I despised, and then to a local private school with the sole aim to get my 11+ exam to get into Highgate, I managed it, I almost aced both exams, with marks in the high 90's on both papers, I must say, this was not due to my new school, this was most definitely due to the St James education, but looking at the type of people that go to schools such as that are not the sort that I wanted to go to school with, or become. I told my parents that I wanted to go back to St James, they of course respected my wishes, and went to meet Mr Debenham . He welcomed me back to the school with open arms without even having to take an exam. By the time I was back in the school, at the age of 11, I was miles behind the class in every area, except in English. Eventually I managed to catch up, and was ranked in the higher end of the mid-table (a large drop to the top 5 I was experiencing before I left.) but still, I did well in my GCSEs and am now in 6th Form.
During my time in the Senior School I joined Cadets which I found great fun, I have travelled to Holland with the cadets, and done many challenges with them on British Army Training Areas, thoroughly enjoying them all. The cadets in non-compulsory and one may leave at will. The school also run various trips around the world, to Greece, to Florence, to the Alps, to Wales, to the Lake District, to France, to America, to Austria for Skiing (there is s new skiing club starting) To South Africa (on the Wilderness Trip) and they are also planning a trip to Peru to go climbing on the Andes.
I utterly sympathise with The St Vedast and early St James pupils, I completely understand that they are enraged about the way that they were treated, but they have to realise that the school is a completely different place now, and they cannot continue badmouthing and misrepresenting the school and the SES now. Joining the SES is completely optional, not even all of the teachers are in the SES these days, they are not brainwashed and neither are we. I admit that joined the SES because my friends were joining, but the truth is that we have a laugh, the tutor lets us choose what we wish to speak about, we don't even need to need to turn up every week, we go to the pub with the tutors after the group and talk about whatever we want. The SES is not a cult, despite many thinking that they have all the characteristics of one, they now adopt a take it or leave it policy with the material. The girls and boys in both the schools and the SES have many activities together, the school even organise parties for 6th form leavers. The school is a completely different place and has a completely different atmosphere, the facilities have improved and they do not try to "toughen us up" by brutal methods. The St James pupils are not brainwashed asexual puppet-like zombies. We have lives and the school understand that and do not condone out social lives. We have more friends outside of St James than in it. We along with the school have grown up.
Thank you for reading
Last edited by
The O on Sun Feb 26, 2006 2:40 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Theo Gould