Malvern St James

Assalamu’alaikum and hello everyone!

Bismillah… we present to you… Malvern St. James!

Malvern St. James

MSJ is the second school with the most no. of Bruneian A-level students; 3 in Year 13, 2 in Year 12. We are… Amal (Maths, Chemistry, Biology, Geography (AS)), Hazimah (Maths, Chemistry, Physics, Biology (AS)), Ana (Maths, Chemistry, Biology, English Literature (AS)), Nadheerah (Maths, Further Maths, Chemistry, Physics) and Yusrina (Maths, Chemistry, Biology, Geography).

THE SCHOOL

The county we are in is called Worcestershire (Wor-chest-ter-shy-er if you want to remember how to spell it, Woos-ter-sher to not sound silly!). MSJ originated from four different schools which all merged by 2006.

Science block

Our main school building used to be the Imperial Hotel! This, the Arts block and the Science block surround two plots of grass and a tree (much like the grandeur of Whomping Willow in Harry Potter, but doesn’t gobble you up) called ‘The Quad’. Across the road is a huge spread of green for hockey, lacrosse, firework displays and many more, beside the Fitness Centre.

The school is very kind to have provided us with a Muslim Prayer Room just two minutes’ walk from the main campus. This building, named The Benham’s, is shared with the Health Centre and the Headmistress’s house.

York hall

York Hall is the main gathering venue and our usual destination three mornings a week for assemblies and Hymn Practice. The other two mornings are form times. Above the York Hall is the school library, decked with computers – Bruneians’ favourite hangout/study/sleeping spot. Talking about gathering, our fire assembly point is at the Dome Gardens.

Dome Gardens

Alhamdulillah, we have had the opportunity to join a lot of activities – horse riding, rock climbing and Young Enterprise to name a few. We found this a good way to start making friends and getting busy! However, we do not have Saturday classes. Speaking of classes, they can get really interesting – especially when sheep kidneys are involved…

Another thing we are grateful for is the halal food provided every day, not just chicken but beef and lamb too. #halalgirls

BOARDING HOUSE

Greenslade House

Greenslade Single Bedroom

A five minute walk from school, our house is called Greenslade (one of five boarding houses: two Sixth Form, two Years 9-11, and one Years 7-8). There are around 50 Sixth Formers here, all having single rooms. The house has two floors, each floor complete with 2 shared bathrooms and kitchens. Yes, we do our own laundry #grownups #tapiesen.

Hmmm… kitchen… spells… ‘Bruneians + Rosanna (Hong Kong) Noodle Night on Fridays’! Bring out the maggi kari, asam, ayam, laksa and the legendary INDOMEE.

Snowing!

Another favourite memory would have to be our first experience of snow. We’ve also woken up one morning to see our garden painted white by the night snow.

Every half term, the house holds a birthday party celebrating a group of people at once. The atmosphere includes chocolate cakes, dancing and bonding-twime!!!

Alhamdulillah, we are blessed to have a ‘second-mother’ here in Malvern. ‘Makteh’, we call her, is a ‘cute’ Malaysian-British Muslim woman who visits us from time to time to have a chat and share advice. She has met with Muslim students in MSJ since around 10 years ago!

We also have a ‘second-adik’ (inda mau kalah). Our housemistress’s 4-year-old Woody!

THE TOWNS

BruALs on Malvern Hills

You can be an Uptown Girl (…) or go downtown – both about 15 minutes away from school. We should probably tell you… our town is famous for the ‘Malvern Hills’ (which is why there is an ‘up’ and a ‘down’).

Uptown

Downtown is, among others, for co-op and dry cleaning. And some top go-to shops in Uptown: The Works (this is our kryptonite – sales ALL. THE. TIME.), Iceland (ani pun sorang), Wilko, Thai Connection (omnomnomnom) and Hung’s Kitchen (Hello? 3 Honey King Prawn and 3 Egg Fried Rice please). Also located Uptown are the Malvern Library, and Theatre.

TRAIN

Alhamdulillah, an advantage for our school being a former hotel, the train station is just in front of it and there is a direct train from Great Malvern to London Paddington, where we go (every exeat, half term and break) to reunite with BRUALS in Brunei Hall.

The End. :)