July 2015

This term has been another extremely eventful one for me – both inside and outside school. Literally in the last few days, I have been told that I can now cease wearing my back brace, which I have worn for six months, so this news comes as such a relief. Furthermore, my doctors have said I can return gradually to more exercise and begin to play gentle sport again; as I love my sport so much this was wonderful news and I plan to start cycling, swimming and play some gentle tennis over the next few weeks. Hopefully, within another few months I will be able to return to playing competitive sport again, including hockey and football. I have just completed end of year exams in most subjects so it has been quite a busy couple of weeks preparing for them. I feel I studied quite hard and so I hope they all went quite well – I am more confident about some than others! We are due to get the results of these exams and our iMind projects during the coming week. Next, and in the very near future, it is the Shell Challenge; our entire year group participate in a 26-mile walk, which I wasn’t sure I would be able to do at all, let alone complete, but I am determined to do as much of it as I can. For protection, I will wear my brace for the event, to prevent any damage being inflicted on my back. My overriding ambition is to be able to finish the walk – that was always my goal prior to my operation but I thought may be less likely achievable following the extent of surgery I required. The only slight problem is that I haven’t been able to attend any practice sessions, or first aid skills training, so, if one of our group falls over, I hope they don’t look to me for help as my first aid skills are somewhat limited! As the end of this school year approaches, I am filled with mixed emotions; some of my close friends are leaving and it seems to be coming around very quickly, however on the other hand it will be good to have a break from busy school life. We are going away on holiday in July and I am going to try and swim and play tennis while away. My House Mistress, Tutor and lovely Matron as well as all my teachers this year have been extremely helpful and incredibly kind towards me – both in their support since my return to school following my surgery at Christmas and just generally with all my school work. Without these people providing me with the essential topics I missed, I think my exams probably would have been a lot more stressful than they needed to be and therefore I am very grateful to everyone concerned.