First days of school

It seems like we have been waiting a long time and we know Henry has felt the long wait as well. Now, at last, he has started school.

There has been much excitement, mixed with a little nervousness leading up to the big day. Henry was very excited to have a uniform, school bag and lunchbox, but was a little nervous about the big unknown of what school life really means. Personally, I haven't been nervous at all - just excited. He could have started school last year, but we decided to wait another year to allow him to mature a little more and for his confidence in social situations to grow. The past seven months have seen Henry's personal development sky rocket and we couldn't be more proud of him.

So on Monday he had an appointment to have his Best Start Kindergarten Assessment. This is a one-on-one meeting at the school for them to find out each child's skills, experiences and strengths so they can tailor teaching to the individual child. The assessment goes for approx 40 minutes and all Kindergarten kids starting at Henry's school were given an appointment time on either Monday or Tuesday, they were then to commence school all together in classes on Wednesday.

Henry wanted to wear his school uniform to his assessment, even his tie. We met his teacher and she took him into his classroom and ran the assessment. I sat outside reading a book, happy to be inside a building with airconditioning (it has been sweltering here). His teacher, Mrs Quinnell, is lovely and we also found out Henry's best buddy from preschool, Sawyer, will also be in his class. Mrs Quinnell also said Henry did great in the assessment and he'll be reading in no time. So we headed home and waited two more sleeps.

Finally, Wednesday arrived. The big day. Henry decided he wouldn't wear his tie and he would only wear it on Mondays. The tie is actually part of the formal uniform (the school has four uniforms: summer, winter, sports and formal). Michael and I took him to the Kindergarten hall for enrolment and Henry hung his bag on a peg outside his classroom.




We said hello to Mrs Quinnell and she showed Henry some things to play with while he waited for the rest of his class to enrol and enter the classroom. Then it was goodbye. No tears, no fuss.

Later in the afternoon, I headed off to pick him up and chatted with some of the other parents also waiting for their kids to finish school. Finally, his teacher led the class out and we all hugged our kids. Some were smiling, some looked anxious, some looked tired and knackered. Henry was all of the forementioned but keen to get home and have a special treat. Mrs Quinnell announced that her class all had packs of home readers in their school bags. It then sunk in to me that school had started. There was to be no couple of days for the kids to get used to a new routine and school lessons. Henry had already been issued with homework - sounds to practice and a book to read and return the next day. The poor kid doesn't even understand yet that this will be five days a week for the next 13 years.

Henry and Alex.

Henry and Sawyer.