AT the beginning of the school year, It’s quite easy to spot a year seven: they’re the ones with wide eyes, open mouths and anxious expressions as they scurry around the school, desperately searching for the canteen, the gym or the library.

The rest of the school – staff and students alike – are well primed and are always on hand and in a short time, the “new kids on the block” merge into the confident throng.

In one of their English lessons towards the end of the school year, Miss Shakespeare asked her year seven students to cast their minds back over their first year at “big school” and write down their thoughts.

Lucy Sly admitted that she was worried “about the teachers, and making friends”, but soon settled down.

“When I first arrived the school seemed massive, but I’ve got used to it and now it seems quite small! I’ve also made lots of new friends, as well as keeping my old ones from primary school.”

Hannah Luu’s fears were laid to rest by her tutor, Miss Poole. “She made me feel welcome, as did the other teachers.”

Many of the students were really enthusiastic about the enrichment activities. Harley joined the Guitar Club. “I wanted to learn bass guitar so I went along and learned a song. Then I figured out how to read tab – now I’m playing Slipknot!”

Other students waxed lyrical about activities such as cake decorating, nail art, keyboard, trampolining, netball, football, board games, skiing and ICT.

Another popular aspect of Wolverley is the many organised trips that are on offer, including a trip to West Midlands Safari Park as a reward for those students who had been awarded the most house points and had not had any detentions.

Opening Minds is popular with many of the students because of its diversity and the opportunity if gives them to learn about a range of topics. All in all, the students’ experiences have been really positive and they are all looking forward to being in year eight – no longer the “small fry” of the school. Charlie Gordon had these words of advice for the new intake of students: “Year seven is a massive leap from first school – but I guarantee you will enjoy it. There’s no more golden time – but you won’t miss it because you’ll feel more grown up now.”