Living in a boarding school in the UK

At this time of year the schools in the UK are on their 'half term' break: a holiday of one week, or two weeks in the case of boarding schools [internados]. This week our school has welcomed back a number of its pupils who are spending a year studying in the UK. Javier, a pupil who is spending 'Year 8' (1ºESO) in the UK, has written an account of his life in a British boarding school.

My English Experience (Javier, 1ºESO):

I'm very happy to be in England. My school is called Vinehall and it's to the south-east of London, near Hastings. I'm lucky because it's in an area where it doesn't rain a lot. The dorms [dormitories] and boarding staff are on the first floor, and the front office and the classes are on the ground floor. The school does have a second floor, but it's only for staff.

The people in the school are very kind and they always treat me very well. We have 'gappers' [students taking a sabbatical year to work] that look after us when classes end. My best friends are called John, Zackary, Justin and Shasha and I share a dorm with them. Our dorm is called Mouse Hall and we don't get very good marks because we are a bit disorganised.

We do a lot of sport, such as rugby, football, and at night I have half an hour to play my favourite sport, basketball, which I play with the gappers or an American boy called Nicholas. I'm very excited and happy with Vinehall School.

A typical day in Vinehall:

7am	get up
7.30am	breakfast
8.15am	classes start
12-12.45pm	lunch
4.30pm	classes finish
4.30-5.30pm	clubs (sports, cookery, photography and more)
6pm	dinner
6.30pm	homework
7pm	sports/free time
7.30pm	shower
8.30pm	bed time
8.45pm	sleep