School
was absolute hell, combine this with both family life and social life
also hitting rock bottom at the same time it was safe to say that I had
enough.
By
this point things were happening that ultimately changed the direction
my life was going. In the first year I always hung around with the ultra
sensible Mark Smith but in the second I gradually drifted away from him
and started hanging around more with Andy Hawtin and Matthew Sheppard
both inside and outside of school (The full details shall be a subject
for the social life section).
Andy
and Shep often didn’t take school seriously and sometimes messed about
during lessons. In the second year at French we had a different teacher
Miss Kop who was far less strict than Miss Thomas was in the first. As
stated at length elsewhere I always considered French an absolute waste
of time and I hated it. It was here that I started messing about in
class with Andy and Shep. Fairly childish stuff such as shouting out
stupid comments when she was trying to explain something or mocking her
French accent. Two years earlier I would never have done this but I had
reached that point where I just didn’t care any more.
I
had nothing to lose, in less than two years French would no longer be a
compulsory subject and I would quickly forget everything that I had
learned. Even my own dad openly admitted that he didn’t care if I came
home with a bad French report (unlike Maths, English and Science).
Quickly
French went from a subject that I hated to a bit of a laugh and a joke.
I would often give the teacher cheeky sarcastic comments whenever she
tried to tell me off. While some in the class thought I was being stupid
and immature I got enough laughs and positive feedback off the rest to
continue doing it. It was ironic that I was the one who complained most
about being stuck in a class with people who messed about and didn’t
want to learn and now I was the one doing the messing about.
I
did of course get into trouble for what I was doing but like many
others I quickly learned that the occasional 15 minute detention hardly
outweighed the hours of enjoyment I got from messing about in class. One
day Miss Kop came around asking each table for their homework, when it
came to us she just said “I bet you haven't done yours” and that was it
nothing else was said. Another time we all had to do one on one verbal
assessments with her and I was one of about half a dozen that she didn’t
even bother asking. I seen this as my own personal victory against the
stupid education system. Ultimately I wanted to be taken out the class
and spend that 3 hours a week learning something useful but this was the
next best thing.
The
above events also had another side effect, as stated elsewhere I was
horribly bullied at school. At Castle rock I was targeted mainly because
I was quiet and got on with my work. When I first started messing about
in class I did it for a bit of a laugh and some positive feedback off a
couple of friends. But I also got positive feedback off some others
including those who had previously made my time a misery. This was the
point that the bullying eased off, it didn’t happen overnight but was a
gradual process over the final year. Socially this was a big turning
point in my life, I got on a lot better with others and by the time I
left Castle Rock bullying wasn’t a big problem at school anymore.
Needless
to say that what happened in French started to happen in other subjects
as well. Despite this I still valued my education and only messed about
in subjects that I considered to be a waste of time such as Art and
Music. With subjects like Science I would always do the work that was
required in class first. Overall I did a lot better academically in the
final year without all the stress of bullying. This was my strategy for
coping with school for the rest of compulsory education.
Leaving
Castle Rock was one of the best days of my life, one of the worst
chapters of my life was finally over...........................
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