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Dec. 10th, 2013 08:08 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
brooke_sandhuIt wasn't worth starting a new school before Christmas. But after quite a lot of negotiation, and a few scary moments when she thought she'd end up at Farmede*, she managed to persuade Dad to negotiate with South Hill, a state sports academy where her friend Ruby from karate went in the year below. After he explained that her lifelong dream was to be a karate instructor, the headmistress reckoned they might be able to squeeze her in.
The first thing Brooke noticed when she went in as a visitor was that the place was huge. There were twice as many classes per year group. For the first time, she realised how small her classes had been. The level of strictness in each class seemed variable, with some having to be brought to attention when she came in, and others with silent bent heads.
"Miss Lane?" the Headmistress said to the teacher when they went around the science department. "This is Brooklyn Sandhu, one of the new students joining your tutor group next term."
Miss Lane had a firm look, with short dark hair and rather severe eyebrows. Her class were sitting in immaculate silence. She greeted Brooke with a formal smile and a handshake. Brooke had a sinking feeling she was going to be hard work.
The sports facilities were impressive, though to her disappointment, hockey was not one of the sports offered. On the plus side, she would be able to take all the qualifications she needed to be an instructor, which was definitely a bonus.
After the tour, the headmistress took her back and saw her in her office alone for a quick interview, while Mum and Dad waited outside.
"Well Brooklyn, I hear you're in need of a fresh start." she said, dropping a large file onto the desk. "I've been going through your file."
"I have a file?" Brooke blinks slightly. "Is that from my old school."
"Oh yes." The head flicks open a page. "'March 2022 - Brooklyn was reprimanded after she hid a sheep's eyeball in the soup made in food tech, startling other pupils on its discovery.' 'May 2022 - Brooklyn was reprimanded for prank calling the school matron pretending to be from Environmental Health.' 'October 2022 - Brooklyn received detention for putting a live snake into a teacher's handbag'. 'January 2023 - Brooklyn received detention after putting nail polish onto the teacher's example of electroplating, so that once the experiment took place, the word 'arse' appeared'."
Brooke tries not to smirk. That last one was pretty funny.
"And that's before we get onto entries for swearing, failing to complete homework, and bullying." the head continues.
"I'm not a bully." Brooke says, quickly. "I didn't know she'd get hives..."
"That'll do." the headmistress gets up, and goes to a filing cabinet entitled 'The Past'. She puts the folder in there, and picks out a blank file, which she sits down with.
"This is your Fresh Start File." she says, handing it to Brooke. "Write your name on it. You're going to sit a test now, which will be the first thing to go in here."
To her surprise, when she goes to sit the test, there's a couple of other kids in there, apparently also going to start mid-year. When the teacher starts them off, she finds most of the questions pretty easy. Heck, long multiplication was something she did in primary school...
Half way through she stops. Are they going to stick her in the year above if she answers all this stuff correctly? She feels a wave of almost panic at the thought, and sticks up her hand. Miss Lane, the teacher she saw earlier and who is now adjudicating, comes over.
"Do I definitely get to stay in my academic year?" she whispers.
Miss Lane looks down at her paper.
"They won't put you in the year above if you've been disruptive." Miss Lane whispers back. "And if you throw that test, I'll stick you in the Pupil Referral Unit until you're so bored your brain dribbles out your nose."
Brooke looks up at the teacher, who gives her an amused smirk before going back to her terribly innocent firm look.
[*The Farmede estate was home to many of Holby's teen gangs. Mum and Dad hadn't been so much concerned that she would get beaten up as recruited.]
The first thing Brooke noticed when she went in as a visitor was that the place was huge. There were twice as many classes per year group. For the first time, she realised how small her classes had been. The level of strictness in each class seemed variable, with some having to be brought to attention when she came in, and others with silent bent heads.
"Miss Lane?" the Headmistress said to the teacher when they went around the science department. "This is Brooklyn Sandhu, one of the new students joining your tutor group next term."
Miss Lane had a firm look, with short dark hair and rather severe eyebrows. Her class were sitting in immaculate silence. She greeted Brooke with a formal smile and a handshake. Brooke had a sinking feeling she was going to be hard work.
The sports facilities were impressive, though to her disappointment, hockey was not one of the sports offered. On the plus side, she would be able to take all the qualifications she needed to be an instructor, which was definitely a bonus.
After the tour, the headmistress took her back and saw her in her office alone for a quick interview, while Mum and Dad waited outside.
"Well Brooklyn, I hear you're in need of a fresh start." she said, dropping a large file onto the desk. "I've been going through your file."
"I have a file?" Brooke blinks slightly. "Is that from my old school."
"Oh yes." The head flicks open a page. "'March 2022 - Brooklyn was reprimanded after she hid a sheep's eyeball in the soup made in food tech, startling other pupils on its discovery.' 'May 2022 - Brooklyn was reprimanded for prank calling the school matron pretending to be from Environmental Health.' 'October 2022 - Brooklyn received detention for putting a live snake into a teacher's handbag'. 'January 2023 - Brooklyn received detention after putting nail polish onto the teacher's example of electroplating, so that once the experiment took place, the word 'arse' appeared'."
Brooke tries not to smirk. That last one was pretty funny.
"And that's before we get onto entries for swearing, failing to complete homework, and bullying." the head continues.
"I'm not a bully." Brooke says, quickly. "I didn't know she'd get hives..."
"That'll do." the headmistress gets up, and goes to a filing cabinet entitled 'The Past'. She puts the folder in there, and picks out a blank file, which she sits down with.
"This is your Fresh Start File." she says, handing it to Brooke. "Write your name on it. You're going to sit a test now, which will be the first thing to go in here."
To her surprise, when she goes to sit the test, there's a couple of other kids in there, apparently also going to start mid-year. When the teacher starts them off, she finds most of the questions pretty easy. Heck, long multiplication was something she did in primary school...
Half way through she stops. Are they going to stick her in the year above if she answers all this stuff correctly? She feels a wave of almost panic at the thought, and sticks up her hand. Miss Lane, the teacher she saw earlier and who is now adjudicating, comes over.
"Do I definitely get to stay in my academic year?" she whispers.
Miss Lane looks down at her paper.
"They won't put you in the year above if you've been disruptive." Miss Lane whispers back. "And if you throw that test, I'll stick you in the Pupil Referral Unit until you're so bored your brain dribbles out your nose."
Brooke looks up at the teacher, who gives her an amused smirk before going back to her terribly innocent firm look.
[*The Farmede estate was home to many of Holby's teen gangs. Mum and Dad hadn't been so much concerned that she would get beaten up as recruited.]
