Moving to Secondary School – Written By You

Some of you will be moving to secondary school this year, and you might be a bit worried about it. We spoke to 12 year old Josie about how she felt when taking this big step, and what advice she’d give to younger kids. 

Today at school, my friend and I were talking about year 7’s. I remember being new to high school. Before I started year 7, I had so many worries in my head. A lot of people worry about the homework, bullys, teachers, make-up, boyfriends and things like that.

Bullies

I spoke to a couple of year 7’s today and I wanted to know their thoughts. Most of them were saying that they thought the school was full of bullies.

First of all, you will probably get at least one person who teases year 7’s. No school is full of perfect people. You get some older kids saying how cute the year 7’s are and it does sometimes annoy people. At my high school, I have only seen people being teased (in a joking way, nothing serious.) There will always be someone who you can talk to if anything serious happens.

I am quite a shy person and I don’t like telling people a lot of my worries but I have a group of people who I can trust and I know they would help me through my bad times. I can trust my close friends a lot and I know that they can keep a secret and not tell anyone.

Homework

Secondly, most year 7’s worry about homework. In year 7, I thought that I would get TONS of homework. I was actually surprised. The amount of homework that I got felt normal, you don’t get homework for every single lesson that you do. It’s easier to complete the homework on the day that you got given it because then you won’t be completing homework all weekend and not being able to spend some time with your friends.

Make-Up

There are a couple of reasons why I don’t wear makeup. One main reason is that I really like sleeping. I would much prefer to spend a few extra minutes in bed in the mornings than to spend that time stabbing myself in the eyes with coloured  pencils. But there’s more to it than that.

The way I see it, I would rather look completely normal and average (aka, like myself) about ninety-nine per cent of the time and have that be the way people see me, than look extra good ninety-nine per cent of the time and have others get used to seeing me as someone other than myself.

One night I left something at a friend’s house and went back the next morning to pick it up. I was startled by how much different my friend looked that morning without any makeup on. She didn’t look like herself at all, because the self I was used to seeing was heavily altered by eyeliner and mascara. I don’t want the way I actually look to shock people. I want my friends to recognize me, no matter what time of day it is.

I wish more people felt that it was socially acceptable to like the way they look naturally. I’m not saying that people shouldn’t wear makeup, because that’s a personal choice, a choice that I do sometimes make. I just wish that it wasn’t so weird to not wear makeup on a regular basis and that people, especially young girls, didn’t feel so much pressure to look perfect all the time. I know that I don’t look perfect but at least my friends can see the real me.

Boys/Girls

Sometimes it might seem like all your girl friends talk about is boys, which girls like which boys, which boys like which girls, who the cutest boys in the class are. Maybe you think it’s boring. Yet, you might start to think: Everyone else is boy crazy. Is something wrong with me? Maybe you’ve even made up a crush or two just so your friends would stop pestering you.

Relax! Different girls get interested in boys or get boy crazy at at different ages. And it may not have to do with puberty. You might be totally developed and still not get what all the boy-craziness is about.

A lot of girls talk about boys because they think that’s what you’re supposed to talk about with girl friends. But there are plenty of other things to discuss. Try not to worry about being boy crazy. When you do have a crush on someone, you’ll know.

I turned 12 last August and I have just discovered my first, proper crush! It’s nothing to be embarrassed about…. One of my friends liked nine boys at the same time! I personally think that that is a bit over the top.

I hope this article helps answer some questions….

Jodie is 12 years old