The last supper

Across the country over the last week, 18 year-olds have been breathing the biggest sigh of relief of their lives so far. A-levels are over, for most, and these students can look forward to at least 8 weeks of rest, relaxation and recuperation before the nerve shredding that is results day and then the run-in to uni.

It's no different for our Year 13 boarders as they prepare to leave us for the final time. Though it is, isn't it? For at least two years, some many more, their lives have revolved around school. Ashford School has become their home from home; their teachers, house parents and friends in the house have been their family and now they must leave. But, true to form, Ashford boarders are going to do it in style.

Picture the scene: Alfred Sky Room kitchen 17:30. The atmosphere is intense, bubbling - it should be, there are three slow cookers of simmering broth on the go! Across the chequered tablecloth packets of exotic foodstuffs (seafood, chicken balls, dumplings of all kinds) lie open, waiting for their turn. At the counter Kitty looks on as Beeno painstakingly peels a white radish for slicing into the pot (it was painful to watch him do it!), while Shan the man tips, tastes, and tests his creations. In short, there's a cook-up goin' on!

Over the other side of the road: most nights the boarding staff would have been concerned to see ten to fifteen teenagers troop through the refectory and out the other side - certainly without stopping to ask to go to Imperial China - but this particular night is different; they're heading to Shan's.

By 7 o'clock the place is hopping; every seating space in the Sky Room has been claimed; the cooking pots have migrated to the table and people are helping themselves to whatever they've dunked into the vats of spicy broth. The whole crowd is here: the chefs (Shan, Kitty and Beeno), Felix and Christie, Matthew, Jeffrey, Tony, Kevin, Gray, Erica and Janice. Even Nicola has come back from her Art Foundation Course in Cambridge to join the fun.

AIB is invited to join the party and try some of the food (after having been reminded to cook it first). Every bite is sensational and we joke that if Shan didn't make it as an architect, there's another career here. He smiles, but brushes the compliment aside with the amiable modesty for which he has been rightly lauded across the school.

Everyone is eating, smiling, joking and deservedly kicking back as tomorrow many of them will be enjoying a quick European holiday before returning to clear up and head home for good.  Janice, Erica, Shanahan and co. are off to Copenhagen; Felix and Christie are taking a romantic, whistle-stop tour of Italy while Tony and Kevin are heading to the northern cultural centres of Brussels and Berlin. For now though, it's a chance to relish the sudden freedom from the whirlwind of exam season.

 However, the overwhelming sense here - as we watch usually mild-mannered girls pushing each other into squealing, giggling heaps on the sofa - is not one of relief that it's all over, it's a simple celebration of camaraderie; friendship that will be soon be buffeted by the joint forces of time and distance. They're all just really happy to be together, one last time: classmates, boarders, friends. The smiles are wide and genuine but you can't help having the feeling that they're hiding just a little fear.

AIB joins Mr K on his bedtime rounds and through all the buzz of last minute laundry, packing and planning, we come across Zekai. He's not off anywhere just yet - there's an IELTS test to pass - but we can tell he's feeling it too.

"I don't want to go." He says, putting calmly into words what we're sure the others have inside. Mr K asks him why. The answer not only makes us choke back the tears, but also epitomises everything that Ashford School's boarding community stands for:

"I've been so happy here."

Goodbye Year 13 and good luck, we'll miss you.