“My older brothers left Gibraltar for boarding school in the UK and they were so enthusiastic about it that I couldn’t wait to go too,” says Sara. “My parents said I could, so when I was 16 we traveled to the UK with appointments to visit five schools, but the third school I visited was Felsted and after that I didn’t want to go anywhere else - I knew it was the place for me. Everyone was so friendly and the school is in the beautiful English countryside, but only an hour away from London and Cambridge, which have such wonderful history and architecture.”
 

"The passion of the teachers for my subjects at Felsted and the fantastic facilities for sport, art, music and drama, means I really enjoyed my lessons and had lots to do in my free time. There are so many opportunities to develop and grow as an individual. Leadership, service and charity are very important at Felsted and I really enjoyed the Model United Nations debates, conferences with students from other schools, and charity work. I had the chance to visit Uganda in 2018 to work in a school teaching and painting a mural. All these experiences are so valuable.”

Sara also enjoyed mixing with students of all nationalities in the boarding house and became so involved in school life that she was appointed head girl! “It was a real honour,” she says. “Other students looked up to you and it was very fulfilling to work alongside senior teachers and to represent the student body in the school community. The head boy and I had breakfast with the headmaster every Friday morning and were invited to meet and chat to high profile guests.”

Sara achieved an A*, an A and one B grade in Politics, Business Studies and Spanish respectively which confirmed her place to read Philosophy and Politics at Leeds University. “I would like to pursue a career in Human Rights,” she says. “Last year the school arranged for me to attend a finance event in London where I met people from the top companies, which gave me a really useful insight into different careers. There is so much scope for interesting and varied work and it’s easy to travel across Europe. I’m sure that the people I am met and the skills I am learnt at Felsted will give me a great chance of success in whatever field I choose in the future.”