First week reflections

A few reflections on the first week of our new school adventure ...

Angel is absolutely in her element. As a true Myers-Briggs extrovert type she is energised by people, and the social whirl of school has her buzzing. She is in hyperdrive. We were doubtful that she would be able to continue with all her extra-curricular activities and manage a full school day, but agreed to let her try and see how it panned out. Even she is surprised at how easily she is coping so far. Homework? No sweat. The two pieces of homework she has had so far have been done the evening they were set.

She and two new boys in her class all got put into the bottom maths group "for now". I think that after all this may turn out well, as she has already learned two things: she is not bad at maths after all (would she listen when I told her this? No!); and she does not want to be stuck in a class that she is finding ridiculously easy. She is now on a campaign to get herself moved up as quickly as possible - by getting top marks, sticking her hand up to answer every question, and finishing everything before anyone else.

Another plus for Angel is that the PE teacher discovered she is a dancer and has made her a Young Leader for dance. Young Leaders get to help organise sports clubs, dance shows and so on for the younger children. They were appointed at the end of last year, and Angel was rather peeved that she had missed out on the opportunity. She was delighted to get a second chance.

Star seems to be enjoying things overall, but is a bit more ambivalent. She has been more stressed than Angel about little things - has she got the right colour shorts for gym? what happens is she isn't on the list for lunch? - and as all her year are new her friends don't know the answers any more than she does. She also doesn't have Angel's energy levels. She gets home tired and crotchety, and needs food and an hour flopped in front of the television before she comes round. I'm hoping her stamina will build up as she gets used to the school routine.

She has also discovered that school is not fair. Her best friend F's entire class was given a lunchtime detention because a number of the boys carried on talking after they were warned to stop. Star was very indignant on F's behalf. (Fortunately, Star's class teacher seems to be more focused with discipline.) I asked her what the best and worst things were this week: worst was F's detention; best was Wednesday because she liked the lessons, especially art. The school has just reverted to a house system (think Hogwarts), and she was pleased to get a house point - amazingly this was for tidying stuff away quickly!