TGS 120 chapters. Class 5E summer 1989

September 1984. Thirty girls in heavy grey wool skirts, too-big blazers and new shoes file up a handful of creaky wooden steps into the hut that is to be their form room for the next year. In one corner a waist-high metal grill guards a – mostly ineffective – oil-fired heating stove that ultimately proves to be more successful at shrinking crisp packets than heating the drafty space. Pairs of desks face a dusty blackboard, in front of which stands the pink-tracksuited Mrs Cloke, welcoming us to our first day at Tonbridge Grammar School for Girls.

Looking around the room it’s clear that some girls already know each other from their old schools, while others seem to be solo arrivals from whichever previous institution has launched them into this one. The first year is a blur of new subjects and sports and clubs, forging new friendships, and getting to grips with the size of the school as well as what feels like masses of homework. Mrs Cloke is our form tutor in the second year too, when our classroom moves to an identical hut at the other end of the row, with an identical stove by which we regularly dry out sodden blazers and, sometimes, even skirts, unleashing a wet-dog-like smell. Nearer the canteen now, our second-year hut is, sadly, further away from the occasional treat of the donut stall held irregularly at the bottom of the art block stairs and the inspiration for the challenge of eating a donut without licking ones lips – with the penance of running a whole lap around the school grounds for those who succumbed.

The third year sees us finally enter the main school building, with Miss Farrow as our tutor, while Mrs Evans takes us on in years four and five. The end of GCSEs heralds the much-awaited tradition of writing on each other’s shirts with messages of encouragement for the sixth form, or goodbyes to those who are leaving the school to venture into pastures new.

The start of A-levels means a reshuffle of tutor groups, as well as swapping out our grey woollen uniform – and our blue floral summer dresses, affectionately known as the ‘flower power’ – for the chance to wear our own clothes to school, as long as they are in the style of ‘office dress’ (and strictly no trousers allowed). Some of us become prefects and house captains; some learn to drive, which significantly expands the range of our out-of-school social activities and our friendship groups; and, as we get ready to walk out of the School on the Hilltop for the final time, we begin to imagine and prepare for what the future holds.

Forty years later, plenty of us from Form 1C have kept in touch, and five of us have a regular meet-up a couple of times a year to catch up on what’s new in our lives, as well as the memories from school that continue to bind us.

Sandie Johnston is the co-founder of LIME TREE WORK SHOP in Sevenoaks with her sister Cathy Emmins (also a TGS alumna) – a coworking and event space they renovated and launched just after the pandemic which has already won a clutch of start-up and architectural awards

Sam Berry (née Eagle) works as a lawyer dealing with clinical negligence claims against the NHS, and lives in Surrey with her family

Alicia Farren first lived her dream of being a professional dancer, and is now a freelance TV commercials producer. She lives near Sam in Surrey with her family

Sally Sanvoisin (née Pugmire) works for a strategic communications agency and is the event director for a forthcoming Government summit set to take place on a Royal Navy aircraft carrier

Saša Janković is an award-winning medical journalist, creative writing tutor and survivor advocate. She lives in Bedfordshire with her family