The older three boys started school here at the West End State School last Friday, August 24th. I have some pictures to help share this awesome opportunity. The boys are all loving it and eager to see what each day there will bring, as it’s still their first week.

This was Friday, right outside our front door. You can literally see the school from the sidewalk. It’s just down the hill!

This was Monday morning, because I had made them stare into the sun Friday and wanted a second chance. Their uniforms are very comfortable and practical for school uniforms! It’s kind of a fun community building thing, because we see kids wearing them all around the neighborhood.

The hats are required for them to play outside, and they spend a lot of time outside! The whole grounds are open air. The school covers a couple city blocks and plans to expand into the police station in the next block over soon. The first day Stewart’s class was heading out to the field for a run first thing. And Monday when I picked up Lewis he was getting a lesson in Australian Football League. They already have two built in breaks to eat, in the open hallway, and play. Stewart’s class is also receiving dance instruction. And Lewis gets to take foreign language. There are 46 different languages and cultures represented by the students and staff at the school, and it is very fun to hear the different languages spoken at the crossing by the school each day.

This is the sand pit in the center of the prep classes. Prep is what we call kindergarten, and kindergarten here is what we would call preschool. The prep kids also have their own separate playground, and a somewhat isolated campus.

Here’s Wesley’s class first thing in the morning. Can you spot him? The other boys are a bit too old to be up for many pictures. But this is Wesley’s first all day school experience, so there’s a lot more grace for a camera happy Mum.

Wesley is doing great at school. It really snuck up on us, because when we applied on Monday we were given an “interview” on Thursday, not knowing what the outcome would be. But it turned out to be a formality where they were outfitted with uniforms and met their new classmates! So they came home telling me that they would start the next day! We also learned from the person at the uniform shop that new kids start literally every week at this large inner city school.

Stewart was very concerned about starting after the year had begun, but he is definitely not concerned anymore. I think he is really enjoying the new experience. The other day, it was actually Thursday before the school interview, he told me that he was born at the right time. When I asked him what he meant, he explained that he was glad that he was born early enough to come on this trip to Australia with Chris and I.

So Lewis and Stewart are appreciative of the opportunity to try a new school experience, but Wesley didn’t get a lot of ceremony about starting kindergarten, which I think he’s okay with. He enjoys being there clearly, and is the very predictable puddle when he comes home. I am working on getting him to bed at 6:30 like we did with his older brothers when they started kindergarten. He may be getting sick already, another predictable rite of passage into kindergarten. I will be happy to have him home to rest up and snuggle.

This is Twill and me Monday on our big adventure to find school supplies. That has proven to be the most challenging thing about school in Australia so far. The specifications are unbelievably complicated, and the school year started back in January. So our efforts at the stores Friday and Saturday were nearly fruitless. We had to take the bus out to the warehouse that supplies our school Monday.

It was a fun time with Twill though. He loves to ride the bus! We were going to head out for the morning, but didn’t get back until 2:30, barely in time to get the boys from school at 3pm. So we had lunch at a little lunch counter, literally the only thing around out among warehouses and a steel mill. I got an Australian burger, complete with beetroot, that I enjoyed a lot. But Twill didn’t want anything to do with it.

Twill is finally settling after a quiet day at home alone with me yesterday. When we get home from walking the boys to school he is amazed, and visibly thankful for how quiet the house is. We got him some play doh Friday and he was content staying home and playing with it for hours. We also got him a toddler seat for the toilet and he is warming up to it nicely. He does want to go to school like his brothers, someday, and knows that he has to learn to use the toilet for that to happen. But for now I feel so thankful for the quality time with just him. I feel like he has been waiting, not necessarily very patiently, for it for three years.

So that’s some first impressions on school here. I am so thankful for the chance to be there and meet other families. I have already met one friendly mum who’s son is in Wesley’s class. She is from Korea and her husband is a New Zealander. They met in Japan. Chris has already been teasing me about reverse discrimination, because I am so fascinated by other cultures.