Monday

Today, I woke up at 10 a.m. as I have a week off school. I usually wake up at 6:30 a.m. to get to school. Shortly after waking up, a new television was delivered to my house. It was massive! Next I had a shower, got ready to go to work and ate breakfast.

I had plans to go to west London to participate in a photoshoot for updated photos for my agent because I also do some modelling and acting. I have been in a Harry Potter invisibility cloak TV advert and an anti-knife and gun crime music video. My mum and I took two trains and a bus to get there. I was a bit worried at first because I woke up with some spots on my face, but then I thought to myself, “You know what? I’m not going to let a few spots bring me down. I’m going to own this photoshoot no matter what!” That mindset really improved my performance. You just need to believe, guys!

At the photoshoot, I did different poses with different outfits, and the photographer was so nice and friendly. The photoshoot lasted about an hour. Afterwards, we got pizza for lunch and visited our favourite bakery. It’s called Hummingbird Bakery, and we were so excited to go there because we don’t travel to west London often. We bought a rainbow cake, red velvet brownie and a piñata cake which was topped with loads of sprinkles and had M&Ms inside.

Then we took two trains back to a market near where we live. We went to different shops and I bought three new lip balms, which were bubble gum flavour, aloe vera flavour, and argan oil flavour. My favourite is the argan oil flavour because it smells really nice. We then took the bus home and ate salmon and rice with sweet corn for dinner. For dessert we had some rainbow cake and red velvet brownie. My mum didn’t like the brownie because apparently it tasted like scrambled eggs? But I loved it! After eating, I had a shower and got ready for bed. I watched some YouTube videos for a little while, then I went to bed at around 11 p.m. I would love to be a full-time YouTuber so that I could be creative (maybe doing hairstyle tutorials), connect with other people and maybe even inspire them.

Tuesday

I woke up at 9:45 a.m. today. I laid down in bed for about an hour after waking up, chatting to my friends on the phone and seeing what they’re up to. I then went downstairs and ate breakfast at around 11 a.m. I had a triple chocolate muffin with orange juice (pretty unhealthy, I know). I then practiced my lines for the next day, as I am a presenter for a children’s news channel on Sky News called “FYI”, and tomorrow I am going to the studio to film an episode. After learning my lines, I practiced them in front of my mum and she gave me some tips to improve. I have a habit of speaking slightly too fast. I think it’s because I’m scared of forgetting my lines so I try to rush them, however I am improving with my speed. One tip that worked: she told me to imagine I am just having a calm, friendly conversation with a friend. It really helped me to slow down.

After eating lunch, I did my English and drama homework, then I studied some chemistry and biology as I have exams coming up in a couple of months. I prefer to start revising earlier because I want to make sure I am confident and prepared for my exams. I then treated myself to the piñata cake that I bought from Hummingbird Bakery on Monday. It was even more delicious than I expected it to be!

I then spoke to more of my friends and then ate dinner. After eating dinner, I went through my lines again just to make sure they were still in my head (which they were luckily). After that, I went to bed at 9:30 p.m., which is earlier than usual because I have to wake up early tomorrow. It will be a busy day so I need to make sure I get enough sleep. Today was a nice, relaxing day.

Wednesday

Today, I woke up at 6 a.m., even earlier than the time I wake up for school! I got ready and was out of the house by 7 a.m. Me and my mum then took a bus and four trains to the Sky Studios in Isleworth, and arrived there at around 9 a.m. It’s quite far from where I live!

When I got to the Sky Studios, I got my makeup done then went straight to filming for “FYI.” I go to the Sky Studios every Wednesday to film alongside three other presenters. The filming starts at 4 p.m. I have to leave school a bit early every Wednesday so that I can get there on time. However, this Wednesday was a bit different.

Instead of filming with the three other presenters, I was filmed by myself in front of a green screen. It felt a bit strange and empty at first, but as I had a lot to do, I soon felt like it was normal and really enjoyed myself. I spoke about racism and knife crime, and how both of these issues are terrible and we need to do whatever we can to stop them. I think young people can help fight against racism by never ignoring it, speaking out against it and educating others.

Filming with a green screen was really cool because they added loads of background effects using the computer. Once the video was edited, it looked like I was in another world! I also got to act out different things such as travelling in a time machine. I enjoyed it very much, and the director Roger made it a really comfortable environment and really enjoyable. The director and my chaperone told me that I got everything filmed in record time because I learnt and delivered my lines really well and I didn’t make too many mistakes while filming.

I finished filming at around 11:30 a.m., then me and my mum went to McDonald’s and got mozzarella dippers with fries and a banana milkshake. Delicious! When we got back home, I spent ages in the shower trying to wash my makeup off but it was so difficult to get off, especially the mascara. I then began to rehearse my lines for another interesting report I have to film tomorrow for “FYI.”

I ate meatballs and pasta for dinner and finished the last of my rainbow cake that I got on Monday. I went to bed at 10 p.m. because I have another busy day tomorrow, but at least I don’t have to wake up as early as today.

Thursday

I woke up at 8:30 a.m. and started to get ready straight away. At 11 a.m. my dad dropped me and my mum off at the train station, then me and my mum took three trains and a bus to Peckham, which is in south London.

We were in Peckham to visit a 9-year-old boy named Jomi for a report for “FYI.” Jomi has autism, and he was excluded from school for about a month because of his behaviour, even though it is against the law to exclude children with special educational needs. Luckily, he is now in a new school, but I think that it is terrible that he was excluded from his other school. It isn’t his fault. Some people with autism get stressed, overwhelmed with emotions and it makes them angry.

I asked Jomi some questions about what it was like finding a new school, and how he would describe autism. Jomi is very clever and artistic. He showed me loads of his drawings and taught me how to draw one of his characters! He is also very into geography and his helper, Bernadette, whom I also spoke to, got him a huge world map, on which he can stick his drawings of flags.

I asked Bernadette if it was common for children with autism to be left without a school, and she said that sadly it is, because a lot of schools don’t have the right staff to deal with children with autism, or they feel that it will bring their reputation down.

After talking to Jomi and his helper, we took loads of selfies and just before leaving I gave Jomi a big high five and a fist pump! I really enjoyed meeting Jomi because I learnt a lot about autism, and he is such a kind, sweet and polite boy.

Then me and my mum got a bus to McDonald’s and had mozzarella dippers with fries (for the second day in a row!). They didn’t have any milkshakes sadly. We then made our way to Stratford, which is in east London, and I bought a new charger because all of my chargers are broken. I also bought loads of snacks! We then went home and I washed my hair.

We ate a Chinese takeaway for dinner. I’ve had so much junk food this week! I don’t always eat like this, I promise! It’s just because I’ve been quite busy and we haven’t really had time to make proper meals. After eating, I watched some YouTube videos on my iPad and then went to bed at 11:30 p.m.

Friday

I got up at 10:30 a.m. and ate breakfast. I then parted my hair to do box braids for the first ever time. Box braids are a type of hair-braiding style with square-shaped hair divisions. I did my box braids with extensions. I have never had hair extensions before so I was really excited. After parting my hair with a comb, I added synthetic hair and braided it into my real hair. To keep the braids neat, I added gel at the roots of my hair. I started doing my hair at 11:30 a.m. and finished it at 11:30 p.m. That is 12 hours! It took so long.

Although, I did take a break from doing my hair at 8 p.m. and went to a restaurant called Toby Carvery with my parents. I was so hungry because I only ate a small lunch: one slice of toast with cheese. Toby Carvery is a roast dinner buffet. You go up and there is a chef behind the counter, where all the food is laid out. For the meat, you have a choice of gammon, beef, turkey or pork. You tell the chef which meats you would like, and he cuts some in front of you. I chose gammon and turkey. You don’t need to get meat though, you can skip the meat section. Next, you move down the buffet line and there is other food that you can help yourself to such as macaroni cheese, cauliflower cheese, peas, stuffing, potatoes, green beans and mashed potato. I got everything except potatoes. Lastly, you move down and you can either have beef gravy or vegetarian gravy, and I got beef gravy. After I ate my meal, I ordered chocolate fudge cake with ice cream for dessert. I was really full when I was done!

We then drove back home and I continued to do my hair. When I was done, I went to bed.

Saturday

I woke up at 10:30 a.m. again and drank Ovaltine for breakfast. Ovaltine is a delicious malty drink with lots of vitamins and it is good for your immune system. Next, I watched some animated stories on YouTube and played my favourite app at the moment, Sort It 3D.

Me and my mum then ordered some work folders for school, as my GCSEs are coming up in May and I need to start getting organised. GCSEs are exams that everyone in the U.K. has to do in their last year of secondary school. I have 23 exams in total: four exams for Spanish, three exams for maths, English, geography and drama, two exams for chemistry, biology and physics, and one art exam. In addition to this, I have loads of coursework for English, drama and art. Even though it’s a lot, I just need to persevere and believe in myself, and my exams will go well.

I watched videos up until I ate mince with rice, coriander and tortilla chips for dinner. After dinner, I watched “Toy Story 4” with my parents. It was a great movie! It was my first time watching a movie in our new cinema room. We moved house recently and we turned one of the front rooms into a cinema room. We watched the movie on our new massive TV that arrived on Monday.

When the movie was finished, I went to bed at around 11:30 p.m.

Sunday

I got up at 10 a.m. and had two chocolate digestives with orange juice for breakfast. I had a really relaxing day and took advantage of it because I go back to school tomorrow. I watched animated stories on YouTube and some horror and comedy videos.

I also watched some hairstyle compilations videos. I like watching these on YouTube because I love doing hair and they give me ideas for hairstyles to try on myself. I also played some games on my phone such as Idle Makeover, CodyCross, Push’em All and BlockuDoku. I ate fish fingers with a toasted bagel for lunch.

The revision folders that me and my mum ordered yesterday arrived at my house, and I began to sort them out. I assigned different coloured folders to each subject and added my own labels for each topic. I found it quite fun because I enjoy organising things and being organised gives me more motivation to study for my upcoming exams. When I finished sorting my folders out, I ate pasta and sauce with cheese for dinner. I will go to bed at 9:30 p.m., as I have to wake up at 6:30 a.m. for school tomorrow.

Tia Sinclair

is a 15-year-old presenter and reporter for “FYI,” a news programme for children on Sky News. She likes to watch Netflix, make TikTok videos, eat out and spend time with friends. You can follow her on Instagram.