Today was the last day of the summer term, and indeed the 2010/11 academic year. I took my camera in today to photography myself and my friends, in the last hours before the six-week break.

At the end of the winter, spring, and summer terms, a ‘celebration assembly’ is held in the Sports Hall, where all of the school’s pupils and staff enjoy the presentation of prizes and awards for each subject, separated by musical breaks. In the photo below, my friend Lorna Young rehearses for a performance of On My Own from Les Misérables, having played the part of Cosette in a production of the musical in September. Later, in the real assembly, I received £30 of gift vouchers for collecting the most stamps in my house. (Every lesson, students have to ‘earn’ a stamp for punctuality, good work ethics, etc.)

I was eager to also get a few ‘group photos’ with various people in my year. The photo below started with just a few people, but quickly other people assembled as well (I’m fifth from the right).

…And here’s one of the ladies. For obvious reasons, I’m not fifth from the right – I’m not a lady.

Chloe made several fairy-cakes to celebrate the end-of-term, and added food-colouring to make them a little more exciting. Below, I’m pictured with Sarah Donlon and Alisha Cox.

The next photo is perhaps my favourite of all of the ones taken today. It’s me and two of my best friends, Lorna and Zac Brooke, just minutes before the final assembly.

This photo shows Mr Boniface and me, tightening our ties (and yes, I admit that I need to do so more urgently than him).

The below photo, showing me and Laura Clark, is one I was particularly keen to get – we’d had a similar photo of us taken last year, in the same room on the same day, but we’ve both changed so much (I’m a lot smarter, and she’s got new hair).

Mr Neill, head of Eton House and a Drama teacher, is leaving this term. His last day at Furze Platt was crowned by winning the House Cup in the assembly, though he was less than impressed when the cheap, plastic bottom fell off minutes after this picture was taken!

Finally, the below photo. Within just fifteen minutes of the assembly finishing, there was literally nobody left in the Sports Hall aside from Myles Rankin and me. We found a giant pole thing, and with nobody there to stop us, tried balancing it on our faces. Myles managed to do so just long enough to take this picture, before the thing inevitably fell.

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Best of the School Photos: September 2010 – July 2011

Below are the best of the other 817 photos taken at school in the last academic year. All of them were taken with my phone, but whilst the quality may not be great, I really like some of them.

September 2010

Pranksters played around with the nibs of these coloured pens (an activity I do not endorse), but I think the pattern made in this photo is fun.

Lunchtime controller Nasreen Shariff, surrounded by me and my classmates and peers.

October 2010

Here, Gareth Mound (second from left) pulls an almost sillier face than Lauren Langley (third from right) – although Garth’s was intentionally ridiculous…

My friend Sophie Davies, noticing how jealous I was of her ‘Captain of Marlow House’ badge, made me a ‘Captain of Everything’ badge. It became pretty famous around the school, not least because of its luminous colour, which stood out against the blue fabric of my blazer.

November 2010

Since Year 7, we’d been promised of one day being able to make slime in a Chemistry lesson. It was not until 16 November 2010, a day after a Chemistry exam, that we finally got to do so. Here, Zeki Forster contemplates trying the taste of it.

Whilst London was lying in pieces (and a schoolgirl tried preventing further vandalism to a police van), Year 12 sixth-former Ryan Tomlinson organised a much more peaceful protest against the rise in tuition fees, and had a petition available to sign as well.

December 2010

Elliot Murphy was given an MI6 membership card from Jake for his birthday last year, after Jake photographed him in a particularly spy-like outfit during a Business Studies trip.

Whilst everyone else was going home at the start of the Christmas holidays, I took this photo of me and Tom Stern, just after a sprinkling of snow fell on the school.

January 2011

Three friends, who all happened to be wearing checked jackets one cold morning in January 2011, appear to be ‘brothers in arms’.

Matilda Rose and Sam Ralphs posted pens into the ponytail of Erin Kyle-Davidson, amazingly without her even noticing!

February 2011

This stick-man was drawn on my face, using my mole as a head, making for a rather funny picture.

Mid-February saw the staging of Alice, a musical based on Alice in Wonderland. Peter Sims, a sixth-former and lighting technician, posed for my camera with an enormous light-bulb.

March 2011

Springing into March, a photo of blossom on a tree at school.

In a Physics lesson, a Lego minifigure was tortured… all in the name of science.

April 2011

The number of days spent at school in April 2011 was unusually little. As a result of the Easter holiday, and the extra public holiday for the Royal Wedding, we put on our school uniforms just ten times that month. On 1 April, my musical friends and I spent most of the day at Taplow Court for a rehearsal of Faure’s Requiem, for a performance of the piece later that evening. Here, my favourite ginger of them all, Sophie Davies, enjoys a ginger biscuit.

A few days before the Royal Wedding, Jake got into excitement of it all by purchasing a patriotic array of Britannia-branded items.

May 2011

I clipped an iPod Shuffle to my eyelashes, in an effort to prove how strong their clips are.

Below, Zac Brooke holds an origami boat he made in a science lesson, after the batch of exams in May 2011.

June 2011

Tom Griffiths coated with toothpaste, after an investigation into how much pressure the tube’s lid could handle went badly wrong.

Sam Ralphs clutches a BBC Scrapbook: 1940 record disc that he saved from the skip during a clear-out of the History department’s shelves.

July 2011

Whilst the Music department’s buildings are refurbished, its assets are locked away in one of the toilets. I was given exclusive access to this bizarre sight.

In our final Maths lesson, Geoff Baker and I wondered what on earth the purpose of this piece of clip-art was.

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So then, the time has come for the summer holidays. I, for one, am extremely excited, hoping they’ll match last year’s six weeks in terms of variety. One big thing I’m doing, of course, is attending the World Scout Jamboree, now just a couple of days away. Read about my final preparations for it here or find out more at andrewburdett.co.uk/jamboree.