Alris came to St Margaret’s in Year 9 and is currently in Year 12. She is studying A-level Maths, Further Maths, Chemistry, Physics and Chinese. Alris has enjoyed being able to fully immerse herself in her studies as well as enjoy the St Margaret’s experience which she describes as having a “great sense of community” and “well-rounded pastoral care.”

“One of the best things about being a boarder is that I don’t have to travel every day; I can just go up to my room after a long day” explains Alris.
She admits that the hardest part of being a boarder is being away from your family for 3 months at a time, fortunately she feels that the boarding staff at St Margaret's are incredibly supportive as “their doors are always open.” She has enjoyed the co-curricular life and especially weekend excursions. Having this time to relax and get to know one another has been welcome. When timing permits, “you can just sit together on a couch and talk to them, or even just play a few games with them.”
Years 7 to 9 share a room with a buddy, and Alris feels that this is a comforting aspect of boarding: “sharing a room has fast-tracked my friendships over the years with fellow boarders; it has helped me to settle into School as I’ve always had someone to have lunch with and to sit next to whilst doing my homework."

Life as a boarder is extremely structured, yet fun: “We wake up at 7am and go down for breakfast at 7.30am. It’s just the right amount of time to brush our teeth and get dressed -then we go to our rooms, which is when we have some free time to check our schedule for the day and pack our bags. Currently, we leave the boarding house at 8.30am, but as soon as we get back from School, we relax, have dinner and then the boarding events start.”

Alris feels being a boarder has enriched her experience of different cultures and has added to her knowledge and understanding of different nationalities: “I had never eaten Mexican food until I came here; I never knew anything about Indian culture, but now I have more awareness of different cultures and it is very interesting!” Alris counts many of her boarders as close friends, and they come from all over the world.

She credits the School for dealing “exceptionally well” with the current pandemic and was pleased she took the decision to remain: “I stayed in the boarding house and enjoyed my time here during COVID as there was structure to my day, and it was beneficial as I didn’t have to cope with the time difference unlike some international remote learners.”

Despite the challenges of remote learning, Alris fully appreciates the efforts of staff to make the experience less mundane: “I liked the fact that in April 2020, we were all asked to provide feedback and that helped the School to improve the remote learning experience. The lessons were interactive and the teachers always tried to keep the conversation going.”

Alris returned to Hong Kong in the summer of 2020, but couldn’t wait to get back, returning as soon as she could get a flight in October 2020.