It's the First Week of School!

Sam, Mom and Jake on the first morning.

We started school this week and what an experience it was for all of us! The uniforms were pressed and laid out, backpacks ready and the new shoes by the door. Dan drives Sam to school each morning and picks him up after, although once it cools down, Sam will be walking most days. It takes about 20 minutes to walk. Jacob and I do the 10 minute walk together, which is a refreshing change. School in Australia is similar in some ways to Canada but different in many ways as well.

Sam's School

Sam attends Narrandera High School which is a public high school right in Narrandera. It has approximately 300 students. Sam is in one of 3, Year 7 classes. He is on a 10 day cycle and has a timetable that is different for each day. There are no lockers there so he travels with all of his belongings in his backpack from class to class. He has 8 - 40 minute periods each day and 2 breaks as well as a lunch. There is a canteen there for buying food and all students eat outside in the quad at lunch. Every morning at Narrandera High begins outdoors with Assembly in the quad. Here, students line up in their classes for the morning announcements, uniform check and any other business before heading off to classes. Sam's daily uniform consists of a light blue polo shirt, grey shorts, black shoes and white socks. There is a sport uniform as well.

Sam's "homeroom" class travels to most subjects together so at least he is with the same students. He is making friends and sharing stories about Canada with the new kids he meets. It won't be long before he will hardly be home as he will become immersed in the Year 7 social scene!

Jacob and Mom's School

The quad where we meet for assembly. The school crest.

St. Joseph's School is a K to 6 Catholic school with under 150 students. I am a Year 3 teacher of 29 students. Jacob is in Year 4 and has about 26 students in his class. All of the students wear a uniform which for boys, consists of a blue short sleeve dress shirt - tucked in, grey shorts, grey socks, black shoes and the school's wide brimmed hat. The girls have a red gingam print dress, white socks and black shoes. Friday is "Sport Day" and the sport uniform consists of a red polo shirt, blue shorts, white socks and runners and of course, the hat.

The school is currently under construction and a new detached building is being added that will contain the office as well as the "Infants" (K-2) classes. There is a "quad" area in front of the school where the school gathers for Assembly on Monday and Friday mornings. During assembly, the students are lined up by grade and the principal, Mr. Urquhart, makes any announcements and morning prayer is said. Each Friday, awards are presented to students for achievement in various areas (Jacob received one this week for his adjustment to St Joseph's school). Then, it is off to class for the day. Each air conditioned classroom has its own entry from the outside off a veranda that curves all around. From my classroom window, I have a view of the construction as well as the "toilets" (student washrooms) that are in a separate building and the "bubblers" or water fountains in a covered area outdoors.

The Year 3 classroom.

I am very impressed by how polite and helpful the staff and students at St. Joseph's school have been toward me. It is a completely different teaching and learning environment here and people have been more than happy to answer my questons and explain to me the routines and structure of the school - although I still have A LOT to learn! There is certainly a connection to the outdoors here and I am sure it has to do with the warm climate. In fact, the first day of school was indoor recesses all day due to the HEAT - imagine that! I am accustomed to indoor recesses due to -40 weather, now imagine +43! WOW! Water is key here and students bring water bottles to drink through the day as well as washclothes for wetting to wipe themselves down after recess. I was even asked this week by a student if they could bring spray bottles in to cool themselves down - I said no as I was picturing water spraying EVERYWHERE and not much else getting accomplished. Perhaps I should get one and spray them down as they come in ... hmmm ... will have to give that some thought.

Students in sport day uniform eating lunch in the covered seating area. The "toilets" are to the left of the picture.

The students in the school have a communal eating area outdoors. Students only eat in the classrooms during inclement weather (rain or heat). Otherwise, they eat in a canopied quad area lined with benches. Then they can go up to the playground for recess. There is an outdoor equipment shed where students can borrow equipment to play. This is also where the equipment is stored for phys. ed. There is no gymnasium so all phys. ed takes place outside. I went in to look the other day and did not recognize some of the equipment so I've asked for a lesson to explain what some of it is and how it is used. I expect that I will learn from my class how to play cricket, Aussie rules football and many other sports. I played the prince, princess, dragon game with my class this week and they really enjoyed it - thanks Ms. Taylor :)

There is a canteen that is open Monday's and Fridays for the students. It provides lunch items as well as "lollies" (candy). It is run by parent volunteers, of which Dan is now one. In fact, I think he may be in line to be the new "Canteen Coordinator". It offers reasonably priced items for the kids and a menu for the term is sent home in the newsletter. For example, you can get a chicken salad sandwich on fresh bakery bread made at the canteen that morning for $2.60. They have 19 kinds of sandwiches, drinks, and then lollies such as popcorn, cake, donuts and chips as well as frozen delights. The orders go in the morning, are assembled by the parents for each class and then picked up by the students for lunch.

Here is an evolving schedule for a typical day:

8:50 Bell rings (a year 6 student actually rings a hand held bell) and the day begins with assembly in the quad or students go to class for opening exercises

9-11:00 Literacy Block

11:00-11:25 Snack and Recess

11:25 - 12:30 Numeracy (they call it Maths)

12:30 - 1:00 Religion

1:00 - 1:45 Lunch

1:50 - 3:15 Content Areas including Social Studies, Science, Arts, Phys. Ed/Health

(I receive a prep every second week for an afternoon.)

I notice that the school relies heavily on parent volunteers. The weekend before school started, they had a "Work Bee" at the school and parents came and mowed the lawns for the playground, weeded the gardens, cleaned up the eating area and around the buildings, and cleared cobwebs, powerwashed, etc... There are no Mr. Mior's, Mr. Schuster's or Mr. Sykora's who are around day and night to clean up messes and move furniture. The students and staff are responsible for ensuring the tidiness of the school on a daily basis. My students take out our garbage to the bin each day. There is a hired custodian who I believe is in on a weekly basis to do vaccuuming etc...

The year 6 classes, at graduation leave something with the school to remember them by. There are 2 mosaics (above is one) mounted on the outer school walls created by the students. Beautiful.

The year 6 students are truly seen as the leaders of the school. They are responsible for ringing the bells, ensuring the garbage and recycling for younger students is taken out, managing the sport shed at recess, and I am sure other things that I am not yet aware of. They are caring toward the younger students in the school and display positive behavior regularly. When I have asked for their assistance in learning routines such as what happens when I am on duty, they are more than happy to assist.

My class has made my first week quite enjoyable. They ask me many questions about life in Canada and in return share stories about life in Australia. This week I learned that there is an annual CARP THROW in October in a neighbouring town. (At first I thought he said CAP throw)You can win medals so I am sure Jacob's name will be added to the record books next spring! My accent and use of language has been the source of some discussions as they either do not understand me or I cannot understand them. They call a pencil, a "grey lead", markers, "texters", an agenda, a "diary", etc... We are working our way through our understanding and interpretations and are eager to share with one another. We are planning a new class blog so keep watching to hear about that ... It should be an interesting and educational year for all of us! I can't wait!

I think my favourite part of the day is walking home with Jacob after school. We share our day's events and then arrive home, dripping with sweat. So we hurry to get our bathing suits on and jump in the pool to cool down with the rest of the family.

P.S. Dan and Jack are also settling into their new routine of life without us... We're not sure what they get up to during the day but they both seem content and that's what's important!