As students, staff, and parents alike will know, there is never a dull moment at Blackheath High. In this term alone we’ve had House Music, Year 11 mocks, a range of conferences, auditions for the school play, Anti-Bullying Week, a hockey trip to Newcastle, the Christmas Carol Concert, and the German cultural trip which students are on as I’m writing this. I hear they’re having an amazing time! Although this keeps us busy during school hours, it is easy to feel unsettled by the down time we get at weekends and especially during the holidays. That’s why it’s important to have hobbies and passions, which you can develop inside school, to take home and work on.  

My great love, aside from school of course, is photography and videography. At weekends, I’ve made a habit of taking my camera out to different places in and around London to capture the quotidian. Earlier this year, I went on a solo trip to explore the architecture of the Baroque capital of Italy, Turin. This was an amazing experience, not only due to the visually enthralling nature of Turin, but also because I was able to test the independence and resilience that I have learnt in school. Needless to say, I came back in one piece and with a suitcase filled with dried pasta.  

The school is amazing at nurturing our extra-curricular interests. In textiles lessons, I use my pictures in photography essays which inform collections and projects I produce. I also take these images further, using Photoshop and other Adobe platforms which I have learned to use in school, to generate patterns which become prints. You can see a selection of some of my favourite architecture, landscape and animal-based photographs attached.  

In addition, I also use my editing skills to create souvenir videos of trips, as well as those which are featured during the much-anticipated annual school fashion show in February. I’ve also had a key role in making the notorious Sixth Form revue and House Music video. This is how Mrs Varathanathan scouted me to direct, produce and film interviews she conducted with Maths pupils at the school, which will be shown at the International Coalition of Girls School’s Conference in the US next summer. I’ll be using this editing project as a way to break up my revision over the Christmas break, ready for my A-level mocks in January.   

Although photography is amazing, I understand it’s not for everyone. Luckily, there are 12 new clubs to try in the new year including chess, sushi making, and halo club, where students are able to learn how to care for their curly and afro hair. On top of this, there are a huge range of societies, run by us in the Sixth Form, and of course the excitement which takes place during our curriculum-based lessons. With the New Year approaching, have a look into something you might like to try to spice up your routine, and have a very merry Christmas! 

Written by Eden, Year 13, Head Student Team