The Adorable Boy and I just finished up his second visit to the New Zealand equivalent of Kindergarten, so I thought it a good time to share a bit more about the school system here.
As the Adorable Girl told you a few weeks ago, school is VERY different in New Zealand -- but in a good way.
Physically, the schools are more like a college campus instead of the big, institutional-style buildings we tend to have in the U.S. One or two classrooms share a small, one-story building with huge windows and sliding glass doors. A small bathroom/locker room separates the two classes. Our campus probably has about 7 or 8 of these buildings, as well as an office space and a gymnasium-style room used for assemblies, school dances and special events.
The outdoors are just as important as the indoor space here. The kids spend A LOT of time outside. They "take their morning tea" outside, eat lunch and have recess outside (if it's not raining) and they actually do a lot of learning outdoors as well. They do fitness and gymnastics, plant flowers, pull weeds, pick up trash, read books. They are outside all the time. And when they're inside, the doors and windows tend to be wide open with amazing views of the harbour and Auckland skyline. I would have LOVED to go to school like this!!!
The attitude this atmosphere creates is much freer, as you might imagine, than the stuffy, strict feeling in most American schools.
I noticed this the moment I stepped onto campus for the first time.
When we went to check out the school, we walked onto campus, strolled around the buildings looking for the office, said hello to kids, peeked into classrooms -- and nobody freaked out. Compare this to home, where we would have been yelled at had we not gone directly to the office, rang the doorbell to be allowed inside the building, checked in at the front desk with an ID and then wore a nametag to be escorted by a staff member to a classroom.
To be clear, I totally understand why American schools are on lockdown mode at this point in their history. But why should that be the atmosphere our children have to learn in? How can we be OK with that as parents, as Americans?? It kinda breaks my heart...but anyway, that's a soapbox for another blog.
The more laid-back style translates to academics as well. For starters, the staff is much smaller at the kids' school here versus at home. Most classrooms have one teacher, no aides. The classroom teachers also handle fitness, art, music and take the kids to the library. There are not many -- if any (?)-- specialists on campus. The classroom teacher has to be the jack of all trades.
Of course, this likely means kids here don't achieve the same level of learning in these areas -- and for art and music, that concerns me a bit. But maybe you don't have to be a trained gym teacher to watch kids run laps or a full-fledged librarian to check out their library books? I could see an argument being made for that.
But I also see a need for more hands on deck at times, especially when walking through the school grounds at recess. It can feel a bit like a free-for-all when lots of kids are outside and only a few teachers are on guard. Granted, I've never been to the playground of an American school during recess -- at least, not since I was a kid. It could be just as crazy!
The classroom teachers here have one more hurdle that I think would be difficult to manage. Kids in New Zealand can start school any time during the year. As soon as a child turns 5 -- be it November or February or the middle of July -- he or she can go to school. That's why the Adorable Boy is starting school next Monday, two weeks after his 5th birthday.
The class he will be joining -- Year 0 -- has kids moving in and out all the time. And I think a lot of the other years do too. That means, teachers have kids of all levels and ages in their classes -- probably similar to the experience back home, but perhaps the fluctuation is a little greater here? Seems like it could be.
The boy's Year 0 teacher is a very nice, very capable woman from Australia. I was speaking to her about the movement of students in and out of the class, and she admitted that she found it trying. It's not something they do in Australia, she said. But come next Monday, she will have 3 new students, including our boy, joining her class, boosting her enrollment to about 15. I hope for her sake, some of the older ones get moved up to the next level -- and, if not, I hope the Adorable Boy isn't the one stressing her out.
I'll mention one last aspect of the school day that I love: pickup. To pick up your student from school, you walk on campus and stand by the classroom door. This way, parents get to meet and know a lot of the other moms and dads. You can plan playdates, get the latest news on the lice situation, find out which boy is crushing on your daughter... I find it to be a really nice 10 minutes of my day -- and it makes me feel a lot better knowing the families of the kids in my daughter's class.
Now some of you American moms and dads may have this experience at home -- but we certainly didn't. Our school in urban Virginia was incredibly diverse with Vietnamese and Hispanic families making up most of the population. It was HARD to connect with the parents, as many of them worked full-time (like us) and a lot of them spoke English as a second language. Though I recognize the many benefits of a multicultural community, I missed the connection that comes from seeing and speaking to other parents regularly. And I consider that one of the main reasons I wanted to move away from the D.C. area.
I'm so glad to have found a school community here that is open to parents and connected with each other. I think it has been better for the girl, better for our family -- and here's hoping the boy enjoys it too! Wish us luck!
