A penny's worth of thoughts

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The New School Year
The Japanese school year starts in April, and unlike the UK system, all teachers (including head), office workers, and cleaners are employed by the Board of Education, and as such have their placements dictated for them every year. The usual get go is they’re moved every few years to a different school, and they have absolutely no say in it, unless there are special circumstances. One of these, I found out this year, was the PE teacher at one of my schools. And the reason I was told for him staying at this particular school permanently? “Because he’s very good”. Take that as you will…

Not only are they placed wherever the BoE feels like it, but they’re given less than 2 weeks’ notice, so if they have to move to the other side of the prefecture (Kochi has an area of 2,743 miles2), they have little time to prepare for it. For some, this would involve moving, which is just crazy.

On the flip side, being a teacher has many perks, such as maternity leave for women - they can take up to 3 years off! Some teachers just keep having babies, probably something I’d consider doing, were I in their position. Granted, it’s not at full pay, but still - to have a job waiting for you after 3 years. That would be, in the words of Butters’ roboto amigo: awesome-o!

So come April, I’ll be starting at a new school, because my mountain school closed down this year. I don’t even know how often I’ll be going or what days, because I have to wait until around 20th March for the BoE to distribute the information for the new year. At least I know the name of the school, so I’m heading there with my supervisor so I can practise how to get there. It’s going to take 2 trains and then a walk - long. I'm pretty sure I can do it by myself, but being Japan, I must have EVERYTHING DICTATED TO ME!

I’ve been told it’s a small school, which’ll be nice, because the previous school was also small (only 17 students). I’m hoping it’ll be as fun as the last one. It’s hard to tell anything about the school, because nobody seems to know how to make a decent website here.

Entrance exams
All schools in Japan have entrance exams - my particular school has 3 exam days, which I've been told is usually the case, although some schools only have 2 and others just 1. If a student fails an exam, they can take the next exam at the same school if they wish, so they can potentially take 3 tests to try and get into this school. If however, they fail the last time, they have no school to go to and spend the year in limbo before being able to take their next entrance exam. All the exams are on the same days, so they can only apply for one school at a time. How weird is that?? Actually not being able to go to school for a year.

On a side note, some figures comparing Kochi prefecture and London city. Yes, I’m comparing a whole region with a city:

Kochi
[Area - 2,743 sq miles
Population - 796,196
Population density - 290 /sq mile

London
Area - 659 sq miles
Population - 8 million
Population density - 12,331 /sq mile

I can’t even begin to imagine how annoyed I’m going to be when I get back to London. The people, the noise, the attitude, the air… 😞

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Photos

Graduation Day Flowers
wish i had this in my house

Totty!
the school mascot - made out of cement by the english teacher!