Uniforms at Highfield and Mountainview

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I wanted to share some pictures of the kids in their school uniforms and tell you a bit about their schools.

Highfield - ages 5-13 - School starts at 8:50 and ends at 2:50. Uniforms are blue sport pants, their green and blue tops either long or short sleeve, and they can wear a fleece or sweatshirt. They are allowed to wear tennis shoes of thier choosing. The boys are lucky enough to walk through the back gate to the school yard. This is handy for having kids over afterschool and occasionly coming home for lunch. After three weeks, both boys (sometimes I think Avery just goes along with whatever Graham says) say they are not challenged. I am planning to meet with the teachers this week. I really think it is a matter of getting use to a new system. They have 25-30 kids in their classes and they are in one class all day. The classes are a lot less structured than they are used to and rarely do they have homework. They have recess in the morning and afternoon and time to play after lunch. Exercise is very important. Graham does go to another class for Maths (that's how it is referred to in NZ) as he needs more of a challenge. He still feels ahead of the class, but until he goes to high school (in Feb) this is it.
I really like both of their teachers. Avery's teacher, Robin Cooper, helps me find my way around almost daily. She always has an answer to my many questions. Graham's teacher, Mrs. Campbell, I have had less contact with, but seems to be very well respected in the school. There are subjects taught that are new and interesting. Graham has woodworking (technology class) once a week and Guitar Club on Fridays. Avery told me about a mobile van that came to the school for a week that taught them about the human body and hygiene. They also had the Southern Hempshire solar system on the roof that lights up, and many smells that could be released and permeated into the van - most were "guess the fruit or flower" type smells - just in case you were wondering😊

Mountainview - Classes 9-13 - School starts at 8:45 and ends at 3:30. Sydney's uniform is a navy skirt, a white blouse with a tie and school blazer. She is allowed to wear a school sweater and must wear black lace up shoes with knee socks. The school is 2.5 kilometers away. I am still driving Syd to school but she often walks home. She has changed her schedule several times to meet the structure and level that are most comparible to what she would be getting at LHS. So, that means she has Biology in year 12, English in year 12, PE in year 12 (gets to work with kids with special needs), music (mostly theory) year 11, Maths year 12 and Drama year 13. She does change classes and her schedule rotates everyday. All students are broken into 3 houses. Sydney's house is Moana. Each of these houses have their own common room and the older kids are meant to support the younger (or new) students. The drama teacher, Elizabeth Grubb, is well known throughout NZ and has an excellent program. Syd will be given a small part in "A Mid Summer Night's Dream" in late June. She also hopes to start playing in the jazz band next week. Ugh, I wish we had brought her Alto Sax. We did bring her field hockey stick from two years ago and she is getting to play. They practice once a week and have games on Sundays - so far she hasn't made it to a game because of our travel schedule. She also hopes to start school soccer next week and maybe join a volleyball club. There are lots of class options in the NZ high schools - food technology, horticulture, shop, graphics, photography, four languages (French, German, Japanese, and Maori) to name a few. I would find it very difficult to choose and would want to take all the fun classes.

I hope that before too long each of the kids will share their thougths of school on the blog. Until that time, these are my first impressions.

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