“That year was a turning point in my life. SAMS was really different to the school I came from. At my old school, people had filters– but at SAMS people were really open and bubbly and had no filters. People often joked around and were more straight up in a way that I had never experienced before. Having that kind of environment really changed me; everyone accepted me openly. I think I learnt how to become a good friend at SAMS– I became so much more open and easily accepting of others. I was such a shy kid going into SAMS. I had no confidence, and I remember stepping from year 10 at SAMS back into year 11 at my old school and being such a different person– people could tell. They were like “oh wow! You’re so different, what’s happened?” They said I came back with so much confidence. I made some really good friends at SAMS that I’m still friends with now and catch up with often.”
“I think the thing that stood out most to me about SAMS was how much the teachers cared. I really liked my teachers, and I think we all got really close during the year I was there. They’ve kept the connection too– Mrs K invited me to do a performance last year for prizegiving, and then I popped into SAMS just a couple weeks before lockdown to say hi to the teachers. They had a really big impact on my life. I think they really just cared! I feel like as a student you can tell when a teacher cares about you; they showed that they really wanted to put effort into teaching me and giving me extra work to challenge me. Like I can really see that they’re doing their best to help me. Miss Grieg really did that for me in English; English has always been a bit of a downfall for me; I really struggled with it, and I just remember her doing the best she could for our class and always putting 110% into our learning.”
“My greatest success had to be graduating school. I remember in year 6 I was thinking “I’m never going to finish school.” I hated school until I came to SAMS. At SAMS I realised school was actually fun, and I started to love learning and doing all this stuff. It was because of the environment that SAMS had, I stepped out of the bubble I was in and had such a different perspective on people’s lives. I think it’s really important to take as many opportunities as you can. If you start there in year 7, you’ve only got four years there, and it’s not that long! Make the most out of it, because it actually does help. I was only there for 3 and a half terms, but I really enjoyed it and wish I did better at my work and took all the opportunities that were given to me. I kind of just did whatever, but I’ve always wished I did more.”
“SAMS was such a switch in my life. I don’t think I would be the person I am today if I didn’t go there. I can see the track I was going down if I had stayed in the same space with the same people at my old school, and I’m really glad I didn’t head down that track. SAMS showed me a much wider world, and I’ll always be grateful for that.”
– Nel Ranyard, Class of 2016