Tamsin Holmes

When I joined the College for 6th form in 2020, I quickly settled in and dove into life at Fram. Before I joined the school, I was at Debenham High School, not far from Framlingham, and joining a boarding school (although I was only a day girl) was a completely new experience for me and I loved it from the minute it began.
I was on a Pembrooke Scholarship for my sporting ability, and this came with a lot of perks, for example strength and conditioning sessions and sporting 1-2-1s.

Covid-19 was a huge part of my time at the college, it changed so much of my experience when I first joined in year 12 straight out of the 1st lockdown, and it even shortened my Fram experience when the second lockdown hit, which I think helped me to make the most of the time when I was there by taking every opportunity I was given. The pandemic changed life so much, lessons online from home, wearing masks, social distancing, and different bubbles, but I think we all did so well to carry on and get through it all.

I have played cricket and hockey for 11 years now and joining the college I jumped straight into the training sessions and matches. I became the 2nd team hockey captain and was the 1st team cricket captain. This allowed me to develop my organisation skills within sports, having to organise the team, timings, position, orders, and subs. I loved every minute of the sport I played while at the college and could not be more thankful to all the coaches who took our training sessions, our fixtures, and tours. I was also in change of senior sports within Victoria house, meaning I had to organise teams for house sports and sports day events.

Playing sports at the college allowed me to make so many friends from different years, and that’s what I love so much about sports and the college in general, it’s such a tight-knit community and everyone knows everyone else.

I took B-tech Sports Science as I have always been the sporty type and I really liked extending my knowledge of physical activity off the pitch, where I found that learning about the body, types of movement, and different training types really helped me to improve my performance and fitness when playing my sports. I also took Design Technology because I have always enjoyed the creative side of learning. In year 12 I did the sports leaders course with Mr Gange to help develop my coaching skills above and beyond what we were learning in the classroom with Miss Linnell.

Taking these subjects will help me in the future when I hope to create my own sports business doing coaching, or strength and conditioning. My life has always revolved around sports and I hope that doesn’t change any time soon. I was known as the one “always in games kit” when at school and that also shows the level of commitment I had to sports at the college.

In the future I hope to come back to the college and work as a sports teacher or a coach. Leaving the college has really saddened me, and I know that coming back to work at the college is definitely something that I aspire to do.

People often said to me, from all different year groups, “it’s like you have been here since year nine, you haven’t?!” when I would tell them that I only joined in year 12. I would like to think this is a reflection of my happy attitude towards my peers and also how I seized every opportunity that came my way.

I believe that through all of the experience, knowledge, and connections I have gained from my time at Fram, I will make the most of the Moreau scholarship for the next three years. I love the idea of the OF society because it has allowed so many opportunities for former student to reconnect, find jobs, locate, and find information from other OFs. I think it is wonderful and I have always loved the idea of being an Old Framlinghamian for life.

I am hoping to go to Anglia Ruskin University in Cambridge to study Sports Therapy straight after the 2022 summer. This excites me because, although my time at the college has run out, I am not too far away and I’ll get to explore more of the world that is out there.

I am so thankful that I had the opportunity to attend Framlingham College, I could not have had a better time, I have made so many lifelong connections and memories and I am genuinely proud to say that I went to the college.