It’s back to school again…cry babies and all

Sep 02, 2009 News

(By Mondale Smith)

Bring it on miss, we’ll do this together

‘Daddy I want to go home’ seems to be the thought of this little one as he stands outside a classroom at St Margaret’s.

After the July/August holiday concluded yesterday the school-aged population returned to the classroom in their numbers.
Thousands greeted their first day at school as a day for renewed friendships and adjusted well to the classroom. This publication visited several schools in the capital city to see the unfolding which proved a mixed bag.
We started our visit at the St Angela’s Primary. There the hustle and bustle was evident as most of the older students stood in line.
There were a few who wanted to be at the head while others simply wanted to know which line they should queue up in. Mere minutes later, the bell rang and the brief “hands up, down, out, in, up, down” sessions were conducted. Then came time for prayers and while some obviously did not know the words, others were very concentrated in their recital. Then there were others who simply used the prayer time to be “trouble-the-next-person-in-line” time.
From the look of things, the head teacher and her staff probably got things together before the day was through. However, there were a few who couldn’t wait for the lunch period while others simply showed off their new bags, books, boots etc.
In the nursery section some were eager to play with their new found friends while others in the minority wanted nothing to do with school. Tears did flow despite the teachers’ best efforts at reassuring them that they are safe.
But it was not just the children who didn’t want to let go as some parents stood outside with worried looks on their faces as if they had just sent their babies off to college in some country far away.
Our next stop was at the St Margaret’s Primary on Camp Street where school was definitely in session. Most of the students there were already in their classrooms. As has become traditional with the first-timers there were a few cry-babies among the lot.
Some sang, others coloured and yet others took on the role of comforters to the tearful ones.
At the location, while some wanted nothing to do with the teachers and fellow students others were a picture of happiness with enquiring eyes ready to face life’s new challenge of schooling.
Of the lot of first timers at the institution, there was one lass who was a bubbly burst of energy, and she proudly told her class teacher “Miss I’m six year old Riana Mc Curchin and I’m a new student in your class.”
Our next stop was New Life Ministries Nursery School, Alberttown, where the scene was a happy one among the many tiny faces.
Most of the class appeared anxious to be in school.
One toddler held onto his mother for dear life and she eventually became a nursery school student for a greater part of the morning.
We then visited St Gabriel’s primary where class was already in session.
The scene of first day at school there was more like the middle of the term as students were already writing essays about their holiday.
One disappointment for the day was the now customary scene at most schools of children looking like travellers dragging along way too large ‘suitcases’.
This publication also noted that several other schools were with out the full complement of teachers.