School

We've been in New Zealand for nearly three weeks now.  We've enjoyed our bounty of family time, but needless to say, the kids were all ready to meet some new friends!

Ben and Julia started school on Monday.  They are attending Aranui Primany School which is our neighborhood school.  The school has 140 students in grades 1-6. There is only one class for each grade except grade 1.  Julia is in grade 1 (which is like kindergarten at home) and her teacher is Mrs. Roberts (or Mrs. R).  She is in the small class right now but will probably move to the bigger class once she gets more comfortable at school.  This smaller class is for new students.  When a child turns 5, he/she starts school.  So all the kids in her class are new to school.  Despite a few tears on the first day, she is doing great!  She is enjoying the "climbing frame" on the playground.  And I think she may come home with an accent!  She brings home a book to read each day and she reads it with an accent because that's how the teacher reads it :)

Julia's classroom

Ben is in grade 3 and his teacher is Mrs. Jackson.  I didn't even get in the door of his classroom on the first day and Ben was being welcomed by the other boys and being led away to hang up his bag and get outside to play!  They have two recesses at school.  One after tea and one after lunch.  The second recess is an hour long.  They also have cross country time where they run for 10-20 minutes around the field to prepare for the city cross country meet which their school hosts each year.

Ben and some new buddies checking out Julia's room

Ben running around at morning assembly

Ellie started school on Wednesday.  She is attending Wanganui Girl's College.  She is still sorting out her schedule, but will mostly be taking electives and then will have open study times during her school day to work on her online classes that she will be taking (so she can keep up with her classmates at home).  Her school covers grades 9-13 and has 400 girls.  She made a few friends yesterday and enjoyed checking out some possible classes - her favorite was photography. Ellie and Mimi do have to wear a uniform! All intermediate and secondary schools in New Zealand require uniforms and each school has a different uniform.  It's interesting to see all the different uniforms on our drive to school.  I'm sure we'll eventually get them all figured out! 

Mimi just started school this morning (Thursday).  She is attending Wanganui Intermediate School.  Her school also has 400 students, but is all grade 7-8.  And it's co-ed.  That's a lot of 7-8 graders!  She is in Mrs. Percy's class.  They stay with their class, but move around to specialty teachers during the day.  Tuesday afternoons are sport time.  So Mimi will have to choose a sport to do on those days.  The options are very interesting: mountain biking, badminton, sailing, roller hockey, canoe polo are just a few- the options seem endless.  I don't even know what some of them are!  I can't wait to hear about her day!!