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6th form student needs social help here

Hi All! I'm quite new here so I hope I've posted this in the correct place!
anyway, my school doesn't have a 6th form so I've come to another one. This 6th form is part of a secondary school so all the people here have known each other for five years.

The people are welcoming when you speak to them.
Im good at joining a conversation and saying appropriate comments to make people laugh in a good way. However I am really bad at STARTING conversations.

this is a problem when I'm alone with someone else and I want to talk; I just never seem to get past saying hi. I sit with someone in registration and I start a conversation by saying "What lessons do you have this morning?" We chat for about two minutes and then fall silent, it's a bit awkward.

I'm not introverted and I'm not scared of talking to people. However I could do with some conversation starter ideas.

I'm male and I find talking to girls easier than boys as I can just ask the girls "Hi, how are you?" I'm not sure if its appropriate to say that to a boy.

Also, all I can think of is school related conversations like "What are u doing this lunch", "What lessons do you have" and "how are u finding chemistry". But I don't like using these as I don't want people to think I'm nerdy and obsessed with school. There's more to me than that. Plus by December I feel that I should have gotten further than just asking that.
Likewise I don't wanna talk about myself all the time as I don't want to look self-obsessed.

Can I have some ideas for conversation starters appropriate for boys in sixth form? Thanks a lot for your help and reading this, I really appreciate it.