I don't know what kind of High School you are going to but I know I went to a school where there were hardly any 'bullies' and most people got on fine. The people who were ostracised were basically the kids who had the attitude that they were better than everyone else and held it against the rest of the school. We had a witch, an 'out' lesbian who thought the world hated her, but people only let her be because she was so rude to people, we had a goth but he was awesome and we had a fat kid who blamed every short fall on his weight and people got tired feeling sorry for him. Other than that, everyone was civil, we got on well and it all flowed smoothly to the point I ended up at university with no major issues in my life.
But I'll give you some tips I found useful:
1) If you're going to do something that is considered strange - be proud but don't be loud. If you like playing D&D, find a classroom to do it in, or organise a space, don't do it in the playground because it will just give people ammo to pick on something they don't understand but consider worthwhile picking on.
2) Try not to be cliquey. Talk to everyone because even if you're not BFF, when you need help for some reason, they might help you.
3) Don't be the bully. Just because you might find yourself in a popular position, doesn't mean you have to justify it by bullying anyone else. Same for being popular. Don't try to work your way up the chain of people considered cool. What do popular people do? Who knows, but it's either no different from what you do or it isn't that interesting. If you're going to be popular, it will happen naturally.
4) Try not to boast. Be modest. If you're good at something, it will show. But people of your age get jealous easily and jealousy isn't well controlled so you end up with bitter kids who end up hating you because you go on holiday five times a year etc. If it comes up, mention it. But don't be that person who always has to be the best, or knows someone who is the best.
5) Try not to be too shy.
I don't know what my best experience was. Probably travelling to Austria, Paris and Germany on school trips. It was school, but it was fun. I started up a website as I learnt HTML which was based on people in my year. I did mostly positive things and put up jokes and youtube videos but also poked fun at people sometimes - I thought of it as quenching the bullies heat. No one ever found out it was me doing it but I loved hearing people talk about it.
I was academic and I was pretty good at sport until I ended up with Osgood Schlatters and couldn't walk without being in agony for a few months because my PE teacher insisted I was faking it so made me do sports and ended up with knees so inflammed I didn't go to school for 4 months. I ended up with some paranoia and wanted to change school desperately, probably because I was so out of touch with everyone. Even though the school knew my situation, social services ended up poking their nose in because some teacher said something and I ended up having to go back simply so no one got in trouble. Luckily, I got back into the swing of things perfectly fine and I generally have great memories of High School.
But I'll give you some tips I found useful:
1) If you're going to do something that is considered strange - be proud but don't be loud. If you like playing D&D, find a classroom to do it in, or organise a space, don't do it in the playground because it will just give people ammo to pick on something they don't understand but consider worthwhile picking on.
2) Try not to be cliquey. Talk to everyone because even if you're not BFF, when you need help for some reason, they might help you.
3) Don't be the bully. Just because you might find yourself in a popular position, doesn't mean you have to justify it by bullying anyone else. Same for being popular. Don't try to work your way up the chain of people considered cool. What do popular people do? Who knows, but it's either no different from what you do or it isn't that interesting. If you're going to be popular, it will happen naturally.
4) Try not to boast. Be modest. If you're good at something, it will show. But people of your age get jealous easily and jealousy isn't well controlled so you end up with bitter kids who end up hating you because you go on holiday five times a year etc. If it comes up, mention it. But don't be that person who always has to be the best, or knows someone who is the best.
5) Try not to be too shy.
I don't know what my best experience was. Probably travelling to Austria, Paris and Germany on school trips. It was school, but it was fun. I started up a website as I learnt HTML which was based on people in my year. I did mostly positive things and put up jokes and youtube videos but also poked fun at people sometimes - I thought of it as quenching the bullies heat. No one ever found out it was me doing it but I loved hearing people talk about it.
I was academic and I was pretty good at sport until I ended up with Osgood Schlatters and couldn't walk without being in agony for a few months because my PE teacher insisted I was faking it so made me do sports and ended up with knees so inflammed I didn't go to school for 4 months. I ended up with some paranoia and wanted to change school desperately, probably because I was so out of touch with everyone. Even though the school knew my situation, social services ended up poking their nose in because some teacher said something and I ended up having to go back simply so no one got in trouble. Luckily, I got back into the swing of things perfectly fine and I generally have great memories of High School.
