Sure, being at school needs effort and you should, for your own benefit, be working hard. But that’s not all there is!

School is a great place to meet and make new friends; indeed, friendships formed at school can last for years. Your fellow pupils can become friends for life, teachers and staff can become friends and valuable contacts for the future too.

The tricky thing with social life at school is balance. The staff aren’t a lot of grizzly, old misery-guts who don’t want you to enjoy your time here, but they are paid to make sure you get a good education, so you can understand that that has to come first. Having said that, we encourage you to be friendly, sociable people, not only does it make for a happier school life for you and those around you, it prepares you well for a sociable life beyond school.

School provides a great opportunity to meet new people and many ways for you to socialise with them. Obviously, break times are all about “your time”, time for you to mix and mingle and take a break during the school day. But other activities provide social outlets too: sports clubs, drama performances, travel opportunities, work experience and more, come together to give you a way to develop your social skills.

Of course, we rely on you to get the balance and timing right. There’s a time and place for everything and socialising is no different. You know that idle chat about the latest soaps, football match or celebrity marriage doesn’t have a place in class, so demonstrate your maturity and understanding by showing us that you know when you should be learning and when it’s okay to socialise.

And, don’t forget, socialising isn’t just about chatting to your mates, learn to socialise with people of all ages and backgrounds - even teachers (they’re people too you know and I’ve heard rumours that some of them even watch East Enders!).