2016
Gap Year Review at Ardingly College, Haywards Heath, England
After much deliberation on what I was going to do once I left as a student from Rathkeale College. I decided I would love to go overseas and do a gap year. After sending a good 60-70 emails to schools around the UK, I got the job as a Gap Student at Ardingly College, West Sussex, England.
The day soon came that I would pack my bags and make the daunting 30 hour journey to Heathrow Airport. I arrived at Ardingly at 3pm on the 2nd of January, bucketing down with rain, and almost pitch black… I thought to myself, what have I got myself into?
My first few days were a blur. I met my
fellow gappers who I would be flatting with for the next year, Rebecca (Cape
Town) Clara (Sydney) and Luke/Alex who were the English replacements. We called
ourselves the Trio Nations. Getting told where everything was in the 280 Arce
campus. Introducing myself to the 400 staff members and 1000 students from age
2-18 was something that took me months to down-pack. We then got our timetable
for the term, I really enjoyed my daily jobs. It started with parking duty or
office work… I loved the office. Noreen the lady in the office was a great
craic, she was our mum for the year. Before I left I was dreading filing, paper
shredding and answering the phone – by the time I left I was an expert! I would
then do morning break duty which would involve me supervising the kids, that
didn’t last long as I would get myself into the year 4 and 5 football games –
probably committing more fouls than the kids! Senior sport and Prep school
sport would take up every afternoon – getting out and coaching football/cricket
was something I really enjoyed. My u14B cricket team finished with more wins
than losses and same for my U15C football team. Great bunch of kids! Two nights
a week I would have prep school boarding house duty – we would play darts with
the kids, play some dodgeball at the gym… time went very quickly! The school
offered me so many opportunities – such as the Yr 7 French trip to Caen and the
U15 football trip to Belgium and The Netherlands. Both were fun, the kids and
staff were great – and the school paid for me to go as well!
On the weekends I would have sport almost every week which I enjoyed. Being able to travel around the country and get out of the school walls was awesome. My most memorable trip was to Eton where I took my U15C team. We all jumped off the coach and Students were called one way, and Staff the other. The lady led me to the Costa coffee shop on site and insisted that I have anything I’d like. My cappuccino and cream cheese muffin went down a treat. When I returned to the field the lads were basically warmed up and the game started. Despite an 11-0 thrashing it was a great experience. On the weekends I didn’t have sport I would play rugby for Haywards Heath Rugby Club. They were a great bunch of lads, and were very welcoming. I wish I could have played a bit more but time did not allow. Saturday evenings were always taken up – with the standard nights down to Brighton. This was the case every weekend of the year, bar 2. Yes, we counted. It was so much fun, and the social atmosphere in Brighton was great. Sundays in the summer were taken up by cricket for Ardingly Village – probably because the match teas were so good. We didn’t lose a game all season so that meant we always had to celebrate at the Ardingly Inn. Being so close to London (45mins Train) was a massive bonus, we could pop up for a day whenever we wanted too – there was so much to do. Such as the London 7s at Twickenham, Hop on Hop off bus tours, Winter Wonderland and my favourite… The darts at the Alexandra Palace. That was something I had been wanting to go to for years, and it lived up to expectations. The atmosphere was unreal!
Another great part of
the year was the 19 weeks holidays we were given. In that time I travelled to
18 countries, and that was life changing. Some highlights of my time travelling
was the Paddy Wagon tour through Ireland for a week, fair to say I was over
Guinness when I left. Berlin was an awesome city, and catching the train to
Sachenhausen (Nazi Camp) really was an interesting experience. Renting a car
with the family and travelling through Scotland. Spain was fantastic, lots of
fun and the group of Aussies we travelled with made it such a memorable trip.
Morocco and Turkey were major culture shocks, although I wasn’t complaining
with the food and cheap Ralph Lauren clothing! Through to Croatia and Greece
which was beautiful. Sailing on a boat through the Croatian Islands was just
amazing, boat jumping and tanning on the beach was relaxing to say the least.
The ability to gain some independence, meet hundreds of new people and see the
world is something that I will treasure forever.
This experience would not have been possible without the James Meikle Scholarship. A big thank you must go to Liz and Jim Meikle for offering me the opportunity. To everyone else who supports the trust – I know that people really do benefit from the opportunity, thank you! I will do my best to encourage young lads to do the same.
Scott Day
