Maia

Year 8 (joined in Year 7)

I came to Millfield Prep School in Year 7 and my experience to date has been excellent. Millfield Prep has really helped me nurture both my academic and co-curricular abilities.  

I have a great love of languages and I am proud of my improvement in both Spanish and French. Ms Velasco is my Spanish teacher and has always pushed and encouraged me to explore my range further, so I am constantly improving. Ms Velasco has been instrumental in my passion for Spanish and under her guidance I am currently at a GSCE level and will prepare to sit the exam in Year 9. I am so pleased that Millfield Prep has encouraged me to sit the exam so early. I absolutely love languages and I am keen to study linguistics. I love learning about cultures and origins and this was something I enjoyed when my family lived abroad. I also wish to be bilingual in Swedish and Mandarin. Swedish is part of my heritage as my father is Swedish, and Mandarin is a widespread and beautiful language. Millfield Prep has really given me the tools and flexibility to explore my love of languages and to look towards creating a future in studying languages.  

Alongside academics, sailing and swimming are two important passions in my life. I have been swimming and sailing since I was six years old. Mr Maxwell is my sailing coach at Millfield Prep. I think Mr Maxwell is very motivating and supportive, and he is always interested in my sailing accomplishments, whether it is an inter-school competition, squad training or the World and European Championships, he is always asking and learning from me, as much as I am learning from his achievements and adventures in Yacht sailing. I feel very fortunate that Millfield Prep offers a brilliant sailing programme that allows me to train during school hours.  

Finally, swimming is a great passion of mine. Helen and Arthur are my swimming coaches and under their tutelage I have had massive improvements in my times and techniques. They are so motivating and create a wonderful swim team that I feel proud to be part of. It is an honour to swim for a team that has had so many Olympians pass through the same training and go on to achieve their dreams.