The fact that no fancy traditions spring to mind reinforces the belief I’ve always held that Sevenoaks isn’t stuffy; the School has a very forward-thinking ethos. The co-educational makeup also meant that we didn’t have a ‘sister/brother’ school in the area to impose any traditions on us! That said, there were lots of annual events. Science Week was always a big feature of the calendar, during which the Chemistry Department would host fun experiments on ‘Jockey’s Patch’, the grass lawn outside the dining hall. Once these included a demonstration of ‘Elephant’s Toothpaste’, which is definitely worth a Google! There was also a large emphasis placed on charity and fundraising: Lower, Middle and Upper School would each host their Charity Week at different points during the year (each division took turns to raise as much money as possible), and each tutor group (see below: pastoral support) had to choose their own fundraising strategy. Can we call ‘bake sales’ a tradition? Sevenoaks also had some cute traditions of gift/token giving to celebrate certain occasions. For example, for Valentine’s Day, you could donate to send carnations to your friends as a sweet gesture; in the lead up to Christmas, the same was true for candy canes.