So, in case you have not heard, the boys are going to be starting school on Monday. They will be attending St. Nicholas school, it is located in Harlow.
Monday we visited the school and had a tour from the headmaster, Mr. Knight. Wednesday the boys went for a "taster" day. What a day that ended up being!
When I arrived to pick them up in the afternoon, the school secretary had some very interesting things to tell me! Colin and Mark had to take placement exams in the morning. Apparently when Mark was taking his exam, the girls started tapping on the window and calling "Hello" (really it would be 'ello, as the British don't always pronounce their "h" sounds well). Much to the chagrin of the secretary, she had to shoo the girls away and then keep watch so they would not come back!
Liam and Cian joined her in her office after they finished with school. She mentioned to me that when they saw each other they gave each other a big hug. I should mention that I really like the school secretary. Her name is Mrs. Bradley and she shared with me that she has 3 boys, her boys are older then ours. She is the ONLY mother that I have talked to that has said something about girls being not as easy and I did not get offended. Probably because she has all boys as well!
When the kids got into the car, I heard the verdicts. Colin loved the school. Mark had a hard time with all the attention. Liam enjoyed the school. Cian, well, he just wants to stay at home with me and not attend any school at all! The older two boys were paired up with buddies and Liam and Cian had small classes and they seemed to do well.
Colin had a great time playing football (remember it is soccer here!). He scored three goals when he played and was well pleased with how nice everyone was to him. He talked to many of the kids but did not seem to remember many names. We found out later that one of the boys was Andrew, and he is from Scotland.
Mark was asked to tell the class about himself in forms, which was first thing in the morning. He told the kids that he had three other brothers and no sisters. The girls were apparently sorry and several offered to be his sister and one said that we could adopt her! Then he had the girls knocking at the window while he was testing and the later, he had at least 8 girls ask if they could be his girlfriend and he got at least one marriage proposal. LOL! I told him next time to say that his mother won't allow it.
Liam enjoyed his day as well. He met a boy named Harry and played giant Connect 4 with him. Cian did not really have anything memorable that he wanted to tell me about his day. He did get to swim in the pool for lessons as part of his PE, he did enjoy swimming and the water was warm because the pool is heated.
Colin and Mark are a head in math. We also found out that Liam and Cian are actually a bit behind in English. The school and the teachers are not worried though, they feel that it will be easy to catch them up. Oh! One thing that I should mention. The boys do not have grades, they are in years. Colin is in year 10, Mark is in year 8, Liam is year 4 and Cian is year 2. In England, all the years go by age and the cut off is September 1.
So, the boys were excited to go and I met with the school on Friday and received the official offer to have them attend. They will start on Monday and be getting their uniforms ordered that day as well. I won't bore you with the details of what they look like....
Today (Saturday) we attended the school's open day. We went so that Sean could see the school. It was also very helpful because we ended up talking to all the teachers. They were all very friendly and wanted to know about us and tell us about their classes. We had a very nice tour guide, his name was Stuart. He is Colin's age. Interesting fact about Stewart? David Beckham is his neighbor! Poor Stewart ended up spending the whole open day with us as the teachers were very interested in speaking with us!
We learned a lot of great things about the school and I know that Sean really agrees with me that this is a great place for them to be. Some of those interesting things? In the UK, the kids have the option to do double science or triple science. What that means is that they take the sciences (biology, chemistry and physics) 2 or 3 of them, all of the concurrently. They do this from the 7th year to the 11th year. Colin can specialize and he has chosen to take the triple science course.
Another interesting thing that we learned from Mrs. Bradley? Sean mentioned to her that we would try and pick up some pants for the boys at the store before Monday. She instantly corrected him, and informed him ever so politely that is was trousers. Pants in England are panties and for girls, trousers is the correct word for the situation. She also warned Sean to let the boys know as well as they may get some giggles and laughter or even teasing if they use the wrong terminology!
So, tomorrow, we are off to buy TROUSER's!
Monday we visited the school and had a tour from the headmaster, Mr. Knight. Wednesday the boys went for a "taster" day. What a day that ended up being!
When I arrived to pick them up in the afternoon, the school secretary had some very interesting things to tell me! Colin and Mark had to take placement exams in the morning. Apparently when Mark was taking his exam, the girls started tapping on the window and calling "Hello" (really it would be 'ello, as the British don't always pronounce their "h" sounds well). Much to the chagrin of the secretary, she had to shoo the girls away and then keep watch so they would not come back!
Liam and Cian joined her in her office after they finished with school. She mentioned to me that when they saw each other they gave each other a big hug. I should mention that I really like the school secretary. Her name is Mrs. Bradley and she shared with me that she has 3 boys, her boys are older then ours. She is the ONLY mother that I have talked to that has said something about girls being not as easy and I did not get offended. Probably because she has all boys as well!
When the kids got into the car, I heard the verdicts. Colin loved the school. Mark had a hard time with all the attention. Liam enjoyed the school. Cian, well, he just wants to stay at home with me and not attend any school at all! The older two boys were paired up with buddies and Liam and Cian had small classes and they seemed to do well.
Colin had a great time playing football (remember it is soccer here!). He scored three goals when he played and was well pleased with how nice everyone was to him. He talked to many of the kids but did not seem to remember many names. We found out later that one of the boys was Andrew, and he is from Scotland.
Mark was asked to tell the class about himself in forms, which was first thing in the morning. He told the kids that he had three other brothers and no sisters. The girls were apparently sorry and several offered to be his sister and one said that we could adopt her! Then he had the girls knocking at the window while he was testing and the later, he had at least 8 girls ask if they could be his girlfriend and he got at least one marriage proposal. LOL! I told him next time to say that his mother won't allow it.
Liam enjoyed his day as well. He met a boy named Harry and played giant Connect 4 with him. Cian did not really have anything memorable that he wanted to tell me about his day. He did get to swim in the pool for lessons as part of his PE, he did enjoy swimming and the water was warm because the pool is heated.
Colin and Mark are a head in math. We also found out that Liam and Cian are actually a bit behind in English. The school and the teachers are not worried though, they feel that it will be easy to catch them up. Oh! One thing that I should mention. The boys do not have grades, they are in years. Colin is in year 10, Mark is in year 8, Liam is year 4 and Cian is year 2. In England, all the years go by age and the cut off is September 1.
So, the boys were excited to go and I met with the school on Friday and received the official offer to have them attend. They will start on Monday and be getting their uniforms ordered that day as well. I won't bore you with the details of what they look like....
Today (Saturday) we attended the school's open day. We went so that Sean could see the school. It was also very helpful because we ended up talking to all the teachers. They were all very friendly and wanted to know about us and tell us about their classes. We had a very nice tour guide, his name was Stuart. He is Colin's age. Interesting fact about Stewart? David Beckham is his neighbor! Poor Stewart ended up spending the whole open day with us as the teachers were very interested in speaking with us!
We learned a lot of great things about the school and I know that Sean really agrees with me that this is a great place for them to be. Some of those interesting things? In the UK, the kids have the option to do double science or triple science. What that means is that they take the sciences (biology, chemistry and physics) 2 or 3 of them, all of the concurrently. They do this from the 7th year to the 11th year. Colin can specialize and he has chosen to take the triple science course.
Another interesting thing that we learned from Mrs. Bradley? Sean mentioned to her that we would try and pick up some pants for the boys at the store before Monday. She instantly corrected him, and informed him ever so politely that is was trousers. Pants in England are panties and for girls, trousers is the correct word for the situation. She also warned Sean to let the boys know as well as they may get some giggles and laughter or even teasing if they use the wrong terminology!
So, tomorrow, we are off to buy TROUSER's!
Interesting about the trousers! I had not heard that before. Good to know :).
ReplyDeleteIt all sounds wonderful. I hope Cian gets more comfortable soon. Poor guy.
I read this to Jake, and now he says Mark is a play-ah!
ReplyDelete