A week ago Charli’s entire school ditched the books and headed to the beach on foot for the day – how cool is that!
They had a splash of a time, with classes taking it in turns to swim in the sea, whilst the rest of the children delighted in building amazing sandcastles, drawing in the sand and burying each other! Whanau were welcome and so Sophie and I joined in the fun. I didn’t see much of Sophie (well, I had an overseeing eye on her!) as she was so happy playing with the older children.
Charli is LOVING school this term and is really stepping up to the challenges in her new class. Sophie and I went in on Friday afternoon to watch assembly and were treated to Charli reading out a piece from her publishing book. The assembly was full of laughter and the children are so lucky to be part of a fabulous school with inspirational teachers. I’m so relieved Charli has now completely settled in and really ‘gets’ how fun school life can be. The school is currently running a ‘reward’ scheme to celebrate excellence in behaviour and personal characteristics that make a good citizen (so to speak – my words, not the schools!). Anyway, if a child has received a reward card their name goes in a draw. If they are selected (to much jubilation from their class-mates) they get to choose one of four rewards….
1. A ride around the school field on the back of the Headmaster’s motorbike (with parental permission)!
2. A ride around the entire school perimeter in a wheel barrow (pushed by the Headmaster)!
3. 20 minutes free time for their class
4. Choose a prize from the lucky dip box
It was very touching to see that the majority of children chose the third option – to much applause from their class mates!
We also had Charli’s parent/teacher interview this week and were delighted to hear how she’s settled in socially and enjoying the academics too. She’s enjoying play-time with games of soccer, skipping, running on the field and finding a group of friend’s that share her love of Star Wars! But she’s also developing friendships with peers that have different interests (Princesses) and understanding that it’s okay for people to like different things – in fact they often make wonderful friends as they broaden our perspective and teach us to find common ground.
Yee ha! May the happy days loooooonnng continue! Goooo Charli! WE LOVE YOU!
