I have been cogitating for some time over this blog post, so it is time I sorted it out and moved it out of its draft status. So, why so much cogitation? Firstly, I needed to check how to spell "cogitate" and finally, I needed to reconcile in my own mind the differences in the schooling here versus what Teagan would have had in New Zealand and that has taken a whole weekend.
Sherborne follows the curriculum of England and Wales and was our first choice in schools for three key reasons. Firstly, when we looked around the school, the children were all happy, they were running up to the principal and shaking his hand and hugging, the same sentiment was evident with the other teachers. Secondly, it follows a curriculum that looked fairly standard to us and easily transferable back to NZ. And thirdly, we loved the idea and presentation of the music suite, art, and language facilities all of which looked to align with Teagan's loves (not directly obtained via her scientific parents). We are sure that of the other two or three schools we looked at all would have fitted nicely, however, we were really happy to get into Sherborne.
The English approach (well the curriculum that Sherborne provides) is different to what I was expecting. Teagan is just a fraction off five years old and will be amongst the oldest in her class. Children enter school on the first day of the year depending on their age on September 1st (the Reception year). This means that as Teagan is 4 years old (albeit plus 11 months) she starts with children at the other age extreme who may only be 4 years and 1 month old. The English curriculum appears to be more like a NZ kindergarten with a focus on the academic angle via play (clearly suitable to their ages of 4 and 5 years). This will suit Teagan exceedingly well as she is a capable learner and has learned to read phonically (fundamental stage) at home via some games we have been playing over the long hot summer indoor months.
The academic year is quite different to New Zealand. It begins on September 1st (although this is variable depending on Ramadan) and runs through three distinct terms broken up by breaks of two weeks with a two month (or longer) summer break from the end of June until the start of September. For us this will be spent in New Zealand enjoying extended family time. The school day for all but the first year students begins at 7:30am (for Teagan it will be 8:00am) and finishes at 2pm with optional after school activities for older children. On summation, the "time" spent at school seems to equate with that of New Zealand.
The overall curriculum at Sherborne appears to be exciting. Along with the standard subjects, Teagan will learn Arabic and the appreciation of the Arabic culture (in fact the classes have Arabic speaking Teacher Assistants, one full-time per class), French and an emphasis on music with private lessons built in (if desired) - they have a full music suite including individual sound-proofed music rooms. We will keep Teagan's extra activities light for the first year and may permit her to do gymnastics (our couches are suffering here at home as she loves to do "gym") but will keep her enjoying her compound based play (compound is where we live) which includes a heap of swimming. Hopefully, we will have a happy learner.
I think Teagan will benefit from the full Reception year; hopefully Sherborne will turn out a well rounded, happy learner in all key areas and the school will have two supportive parents behind them.
Sounds as if Teagan will enjoy her school. Do they have drama classes? I'm sure Teagan would be top of her class in that subject!!! I'm looking froward to the time when she sends me emails.
ReplyDeleteApparently she does nothing at school, not even music - even though she can tell you all about the music room and the teacher and create a drum kit at home. But no, there is nothing at school at all, so I assume no drama either... ask her a school question and the guaranteed answer is NO NO NO.
ReplyDelete