First Day of Term 3 for Robin and Will

Michele: Today was the first day of school for Robin and Will at the Mission Beach State School. The school covers levels Prep (kindergarten) through 7 for several towns including South Mission Beach. Above level 7, kids go to a regional high school 25 km away in Tully. MSSB has about 300 kids and 2 classes for each year. There are ~8 buildings separated by covered walkways. The grounds of the school are like a park with palms, bromeliads, lots of skinks running about and even a pond. A large play area is covered to protect children from the sun. Robin and Will are sporting the school uniform, which includes a brimmed hat. Such hats are required in order for children to play outside. For good reason, Aussies take sun safety very seriously.

At Aussie schools, families purchase a long list of school supplies including lined workbooks, scrapbooks, quadrilled books, math workbooks, pencils, rubbers (those are erasers!), colored pencils, craypas, rulers, scissors, glue, twist crayons, plastic envelopes, cardboard envelopes, reading diaries and Thrass charts (that is some sort of phonics thing). In the lower grades, the workbooks are specific for each level. Based on his age, we thought that Will might be level 1 and bought a level one book. By lunchtime he was upgraded to level 2. Apparently, the level 2 books have guide lines closer together than the level 1 books. School supplies are bought at newsstands and the clerks at the newsstand near the school are getting to know me quite well by now.

Robin’s day involved coordination exercises designed to stimulate thinking, morning tea, a math test, lunch (the whole school gathers at one time) and yoga.
Michele: “Robin, Did you have a good day at school?”
Robin: “I didn’t have a good day, I had an awesome day!”
Will: “Will didn’t have a good day… he had a great day!”