How to Survive Secondary School

For those of you who have read some of my previous posts, you will know that I have just finished year 11 and am going to start sixth form in September. Now I some how, despite thinking that I never would, managed to survive 5 years of secondary. I can remember how I felt when I finished year 6. I was excited about starting a new school and meeting new people but at the same time I was really scared. I was going from being one of the older kids in the school who the younger ones would come up to and ask for help if they needed it; to being one of the youngest kids in the school who was absolutely terrified of the older ones. 

At the time it seemed like those 5 years were going to last forever. In fact, since I found out in year 7 that once you got to year 11 you got to leave school early, I was so excited and I couldn't wait for that to happen. But now that it has happened I've realised that those 5 years went by really quickly and I actually wish that we were at school for longer. Don't get me wrong, I hated school. But I guess I just want to see everyone again because I shared 5 years of my life with those people and even though I really didn't like some of them, I miss them. Admittedly, I miss some more than others: but it's weird that I'm probably never going to see any of them ever again. 

Anyway, I understand how daunting starting secondary can be so I thought that I'd share a few tips with you on how to survive it. This is mostly aimed at anyone who is starting year 7 in September but this can also be for anyone who has already started secondary or has a friend or relative that is about to start this crazy new journey.

1. Popularity isn't a contest

A lot of people think that in order to get through secondary you need to be popular. You don't. I was never really popular at my school and I managed to get out of their alive. Don't try and get with the 'popular' crowd just so you can be popular. It doesn't work like that. These people are only where they are because the majority of them think they're better than everyone else. Well let me tell you that they're not. Just be yourself and people are more likely to like you.

2. Make new friends...

Meeting new people and making new friends is one of the only good things about secondary. You get to meet people who you might not have met if it wasn't for school and you become friends with people who you never thought you would have been friends with if you'd have gone to primary with them. You might also find the person (or people) who complete your life and make it as good as it can possibly be.

3. ...but don't lose the old ones

Making new friends is all well and good but don't forget the ones who you knew for 7 years previously. Your primary friends. You would have been through so much together in those 7 years of primary that it would be ashame to lose them now. Hold onto them so that you can make many more memories together. At the same time, don't be afraid to branch out and make other friends because you can't always stick with the same people and some of you may find that you become closer to the friends you make in secondary than the ones from primary. You can still hold onto your primary friends but just try and find the right balance between old friends and new ones.

4. Have fun

If you're like me you will think of school as hell and hate it. But just because you hate it doesn't mean that you can't at least try and enjoy it. If you go through the 5 years of secondary being miserable then chances are that you'll make it a miserable experience for everyone else and you won't be able to enjoy some of the very few highlights of it. 

5. Work hard, play hard

Starting secondary means getting way more homework than you would in primary. However this doesn't mean that all you can do for the next 5 years is homework. You need time for yourself and time to hang out with your friends. It's all about finding the right balance between doing your homework and being with your friends. So maybe if you have homework and you have a spare hour (or even half an hour) where you're not doing anything, do a bit of homework. I always left mine to the last minute and ended up having to do about 5 weeks worth of homework in one night and it wasn't fun. Believe me. But at the same time don't spend too long doing your homework to the point where you don't have time for your friends any more. 

So there are my 5 tips to surviving secondary. If you have any other tips to surviving it then please leave them in the comments below.

Or if you have any questions about secondary or anything else then please don't be afraid to leave them in the comments or you can either dm me them on Twitter or email me. All of my contact information is in the contacts tab at the top of the page.

Thank you for reading and I hope this post has helped you in one way or another on how to survive secondary.

Love Beth xx