The Making of the Year 11 Leavers Book
On Monday 12th March scalps scratched, ears pricked, and jaws dropped as some strange and eerily unfamiliar sounds sang out from the conference room. Hooters hooted. Party poppers popped. Balloons bobbled. Paper hats rustled. Music blared. Hands clapped tumultuously. Banners blew in a breeze of merriment. Several lower school noses were firmly fixed to the glass outside causing steamy circles to appear as they gaped in awe and wonder? Could it be students having fun? Even laughing? Surely not. Some pinched themselves. Some pinched others (though I don’t think this was related and they may now need to see Mrs. Voyce to explain!). For this was the official launch party of the Year 11 Leavers Book. Mandy and the canteen staff laid on a splendid feast, Mr. Horsfield and Jim presented a delightful personalised cake emblazoned with our faces and resplendent with candle (singular!), and Mr. Guiney read a rousing thank you speech and handed out a few presents. At 2.30 we left dressed in masks, silly hats (and I suspect in one case a pocketful of blu-tac!) with a warm feeling of satisfaction at a job well done but a little sad that the adventure was over. But that was just the end of the story... There had been a leavers’ book at Neatherd some years ago but it went the way of the dinosaurs. So, when a group of eager students came to see Mr. Guiney with the idea way back at the end of Year 10 to see if they could do what Richard Attenborough did to the T-Rex in Jurassic Park the idea was born – the book was to be resurrected using a dusty volume from the dark recesses of Mr. Horsfield’s wood-panelled office (in which book the young Mr. Horsfield cut a rather dashing figure so we all agreed). This time-stained tome along with books borrowed from Notre Dame, Blyth-Jex, Hethersett and Sprowston High Schools was to be the DNA which would help us bring ‘book-o-saurus’ back to life so a big thank you to those schools for their inspiration and ideas. 
The stage was set and so Mr. Guiney and Jo O’Donoghue (a specialist advisor from county and a thoroughly nice lady and so say all of us!) met with some students to pen down some ideas of what we wanted in our book. 50 students in a year group of 230 applied and competition was fierce, made even fiercer by the allure of acquiring an LBC badge which set us fashionistas aside from the humdrum attire of other students. What’s more it complemented the navy of our blazers nicely. Anyway, we digress. After much tough interviewing the team was whittled down to a tightly knit lean mean book-making machine. At the helm were Carmel (I‘ll do e-v-e-r-y-t-h-i-n-g) Hannant, Emily (the think tank) Tufts, and Lauren (do it or else!) Whitehair. Rachel and Frankie did a great job tracking down teachers (especially the ever-elusive Mrs. Todd!) and even did some Paxman-esque grilling of a certain member of staff with a penchant for Dangermouse. Ruth, Luke, Kayleigh, Will, Christie, Becks, and Katie all contributed fantastically. Nicole and Laurel did an amazing job of collating 230 student photographs and between them managed to get a great haul of photos and articles. Even more impressive was ensuring all students could sum up their 900 days of schooling in a mere 40 characters! Everyone pooled in and achieved a logistical triumph! Nathalie, Jess and Carmel’s artwork deserve special mentions as they were even headhunted as a result! Wow. Also, a word of thanks to honorary Year 11s Jack Tench and Luke Thompson for their stirling work in flash in helping promote the book on interactive whiteboards in school. Finally, thanks to Miss. Hamer for her illegible scrawl on the last pages. We really enjoyed creating this book. It fostered a real positive ethos and gave us a chance to be in control and put our opinions forward. So what are you waiting for – go buy it!!! By:
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