Cyclone goes to school

The local school is in the next street and the principal came to the kinder for a presentation. I was all set to enrol Cyclone there until that meeting. For some reason I didn't like her. At all. She was shrill, she was very offhand but ranted for awhile about how all the preps are writing at a Grade 2 level. Nothing about the students, nothing about the school community - nothing about kids that have no interest in writing at Grade 2 level, nothing about individuality, nothing about the love of teaching a child - oh I don't know what I wanted from this woman but my blood ran cold by the end of it and I walked out thinking "you're not teaching my kid".

It's halfway through the year and I'm not melting down at the thought of Cyclone going to school. A friend on the Belly Belly forum points me in the direction of an independent school I never knew existed. I jump for joy at the style of education, breathe a sigh of relief and wonder how the hell I will afford it. I realise I don't care about the cost and sign him up immediately.

It's been awhile between posts, so much is going on around here and I have to catch up to the present. I've done a big cheat and pasted another post from my other blog...



Yep, it's time and he is really looking forward to it. Let me introduce you to one of Cyclones fellow students



This is the view from the gazebo where the children wait to be picked up at the end of the day



I know it seems silly driving him 20mins away when there is a perfectly good school 2 streets away. But...not really. Have a look at those pics - I know where I would rather be each day.
At this school, the students take responsibility for the care of the animals. The younger students collect the eggs and put the chooks (heaps of them and all different kinds) away at the end of the day.
The older kids place the horses along the driveway in the morning to mow the grass and put away the bigger animals at night.
The preps sell the eggs at the school market, record sales etc - that's one of the ways they learn maths.

I also love that according to the school handbook - "It is the responsibility of the first year students to locate every puddle in winter".

So my sensory Cyclone wont be considered a problem child if he can't sit still and needs to roll around in the grass during class. If he gets overwhelmed his teacher will see it and send him out to round up the geese or count eggs.
They go on impromptu excursions if the class discussions lead them on a mission, riding lessons in the sports program and the 2nd language is Auslan because the students got bored of Indonesian and voted for it themselves.

Yaaaaaaaaay! Oh and the school is also in the top 10% for science/maths.

BRING IT ON - we are all so excited!