days in the life of

MONDAY: My mum woke me at eight o'clock. I got up and rushed downstairs to have breakfast. When I finished breakfast the doorbell rang. It was my friend Joe (we walk to school together). I asked my mum for pounds 2 dinner money, collected it and was off.

We arrived just on time. When the siren went we all left for our first lesson, which was double French. We did a test and I thought I did OK. The rest of the day was pretty boring. At home time Nicholas, Kwesi and I went round to Kwesi's. We didn't have any homework so we went to the park to play football. We played goal-to-goal where there are two goals and you have to try and score from behind the half-way line (they're not full-size goals). In the end we all went back to Kwesi's and played darts. After, we went into Kwesi's room and talked for a while. At 6.30, Nicholas's mum came and picked him up, and a little later I went home.

TUESDAY: Same as Monday - got up, had breakfast and went to school with Joe. Today we had a large school assembly, like every Tuesday. It's always really cramped and everybody's walking on your fingers, but you get used to it.

Our first lesson was Technology. We are designing a balancing toy, so we had to plan the design and get some ideas for what it could be. You had to fill your page with designs and logos. When I finished, Sir let some of us karate-chop pieces of wood that were being thrown out. I got a splinter in my hand. Our next lesson was French. We went over the mistakes we made in our test and had to copy stuff off the board (boring!).

At break we all played football, I was in goal and it was passing and shooting. We arrived a bit late so we didn't get much time to play. The rest of the day was boring with the exception of music. I walked home with a friend and watched telly for a while, and then did my Technology homework which took about 15 minutes.

WEDNESDAY: Today the same happened except I woke myself up and had a shower. At school we had Art which I was good in. Homework was set which was to find out information about an artist and lay it out on a piece of A4 paper. At break we played football again but today we had enough time. After break we did a test in Science, and I got quite a high mark. In our next lesson we had another test (spelling) and I got 14/14. After school I went to Oxford Street to do some shopping. Molly (my sister), who only comes round on a Wednesday, and Sunna, who occasionally comes on a Wednesday, were coming round. The photographer was coming at seven so I came back at six and did my art homework (I found some information on Cezanne) before they all arrived. I just about fitted it all in but I didn't get much spare time. The photographer said we needed a plain wall, so we had to find one. After supper we all played cards like we usually do on Wednesday.

THURSDAY: Today at school we got our results for the French test. I got a level four for reading and a level two for writing. In Humanities we had to present our board games that we'd been making. Our group's game was called The Monopoly Industries. We got top marks and a merit.

On Thursdays we get off at 2:50pm, so after school I played football with my friends. We played Wembley, where you have to score 1, 2 or 3 goals depending which round it is, and when you score x goals you go through to the next round, and the last person goes out. Afterwards I walked home with Kwesi and bought oranges for the morning (we have an orange squeezer). When I got home I watched TV, then played the computer. My mum told me to do my homework, which was Science, so I did.

FRIDAY: Today was a long day compared to yesterday. We first of all had Maths which was OK, then double Science. Science is fine but not when you don't do anything. After break we had double Games which I had a note for saying I couldn't do it, but I decided to do it anyway. We went down to the park to play football and it was raining. I did a sliding tackle and got covered in mud.

After school I went to Anna Scher theatre, which is a drama school I go to every Friday and Saturday. Afterwards, Joe came round and played the Megadrive while I wrote this, so that we could go on to his house.

Pascoe Sabido, aged 12, goes to Acland Burghley School in north London.