End of the School Year Festivities

The last few weeks of school were lots of fun.  With plays, sports days, concerts, and Avery's graduation of Junior School, there was much to celebrate. 

Avery had a great sports day, placing in all his races and surprising us a bit with his long jump at 3.82m! This year, Avery has discovered his love for running and Athletics (track and field).

Avery's school spent the last month of school focused on their play "Frankie and Me." Not only was the play very entertaining, we were really impressed by all the great singing that the boys did during the show.  Avery was a member of the chorus, and also played a female ghost towards the end of the play.

Yes, that's Avery on the left with some amazing hair!

 Alexa got her chance to show off her musical talents as well at her schools Prize giving day, singing "Do-Re-Mi" from The Sound of Music.

 

Mia and her friends got to take center stage twice at the Strawberry Serenade, her Junior School concert.  This first video is a poem that she and her friend recited after winning the poetry competition in their school.



 



 Mia also performed as part of a group doing a song from "Matilda the Musical."

 

Overall, it's been a great 2 years at these schools.  It was really hard to say goodbye, but we look forward to more fun times in Burnt Hills!

A New Year at Derby High

OK, with all the craziness of the first day getting all three kids out the door, I failed to get a photo of the girls on their first day.  So here they are on their second day...Mia in her summer uniform, and Alexa in her PE uniform. Oh, how they've grown since last year. 

 

The girls are very excited about a new year of school.  Something different this year is that there are some new friends from the US that they'll be seeing every day on the playground.  There are 3 new girls from the US, not in their classes years but relatively close in age.  It's a nice change for me too...to not be the only American at the school gate, and I've really enjoyed helping these 2 new families get settled.

Year 6 at the Derby Grammar begins!

Avery was very excited to start his last year at Derby Grammar.  His class of 8 boys from last year has grown to 15 so there is much change to come.  School started on Thursday and on Friday evening the school held it's annual Cross Country.  We were all very excited to see how Avery would perform in the race.  He does love to run, but usually short distances. 

We told Avery to pace himself, to not come out in front right away and burn all his steam early. The race was probably about a half a mile long. Going against everything we told him, Avery took the lead right away, and continued in the lead for quite some time.  There was a moment when one of his clasmates started to pass him on the last lap and Avery got this determined look on his face that was priceless.

Avery continued on, out steaming his opponent and triumphantly finished first in the race!  We were so excited....it was the perfect start to his school year.

 Avery crossing the finish line.

 Avery amazed at his win.

The boys then continued on with the Tug-of-War, which Atkinson house placed 2nd in Year 6.  A very enjoyable evening for the Belangers!

Rugby

I'm so proud of Avery learning to play Rugby.  He started off on the "B" team, as he is just a beginner, and has worked his way up to being on the "A" team of the U11 boys....he just turns 9 in 2 weeks!  He really loves playing.  He's gotten most of his thrills by being aggressive at tackling, but has scored for his team as well.  Since moving up to the higher level, he hasn't been quite as successful but that's to be expected.  He's probably the skinniest kid out there!

I think playing Rugby has really toughened Avery up.  There are no tears when he gets tackled, stepped on, or knocked heads.  You know, I really was hoping that I would never be a Football (American) mom because of all the violence, but now I'm letting him play Rugby?  With almost no protective equipment? 

It's fun to see him learning and being active.  He has games once or twice a week and they're usually during school hours (2:30-3:30).  He gets to represent his school, which is definitely different than in the US.  He's got a few more weeks left of Rugby and then after Christmas they switch to Hockey...in American terms it's called Field Hockey.  Keep in mind, it doesn't snow much here, so they play outdoor sports all year round.  And then in the Spring, he'll be playing Cricket.  All sports that he wouldn't have been exposed to in the US...all the better for Avery!

Pray for no concussions!

Cross Country

The very first weekend after school started, the boys school holds a cross country race for the boys to have some fun competition, physical activity, and also for the boys and their families to get to know each other. It's a really great idea, and it was a very fun morning for Avery. It started with a long cross country race for various age groups, and then later, a series of tug-of-war battles.

I need to take a step back and explain how both the girls and boys school are structured. All you Harry Potter fans will love this. The schools go all the way up through high school age and are divided into houses, 4 houses in each school. Mia is in St. Patrick's House and Avery is in Atkinson house. And just like in Harry Potter, the houses compete for points through the school's activities. So for Avery, this competition was his first opportunity for him to earn points for his house.

Avery is still battling a pretty bad cough, so we weren't sure how well he would do in the run, even though in general he's a pretty good runner.  We were happy that he placed 15th among the 5th and 6th year boys, especially since this was his first time and he's the youngest of the group.

Then came the Tug of War.  Unfortunately, his team wasn't so successful in the rounds that he participated in, but he had a lot of fun trying.  I think I recall the results being that Atkinson house won the Cross Country race for the Senior Boys, and came in 2nd for the Junior boys.  I think they placed 3rd and 4th in the Tug of War.  Overall, it was a fun morning and great to see the entire student body in one location.  I guess there is a lot of comradery even between the Senior boys and the Junior boys.  They all meet in an assembly each morning together, and since the school is fairly small, the boys get to know a lot of each others names.  Avery was excited that the Head Boy of Atkinson house spoke at the Assembly on Monday and told the whole school that his house was going to win the House Cup. 

I couldn't leave you without a picture of Avery's loyal fans at the field day. The girls had fun at the event too, because there were lots of sisters of the boys at the event as well, most of whom go to their school. 

First Day of School

Yesterday was a very busy first day of school.  The girls are going to Derby High School and Avery is going to Derby Grammar School (an all boy school).  Don't they look so smart in their uniforms?  Just adorable. 

We were a little worried that Avery wasn't going to make it  to school.  He's been battling some kind of illness with a cough and extreme tiredness for the last few days, and on top of that - a lot of nerves.  But he woke up after a long night of sleep feeling alright, though his nerves were evident.  We were very positive with him to get him excited to go to school and he did go.  I knew that first day would be the hardest but we had to get it behind us. 

All the kids made it through the day wonderfully.  It's a long day for them.  I drop them off around 8am and pick them up between 3:30 and 4.  So there's more time in school, but no time on a bus.  It looks like Alexa will be in Year 1 (which is the Kindergarten equivalent), Mia will be in Year 3 (which is the 2nd grade equivalent) and Avery will be in Year 5 (which is the 4th grade equivalent).  Avery really should be in Year 4 based on his age, but unfortunately his school doesn't have room for him in that grade.  There are only 8 boys right now in Year 5 and there are some openings for him to take Math with the Year 4 boys, so we're hoping that it will work out for him.  The biggest challenge will be his reading and writing level, but we're praying that with some extra work at home, he will be able to catch up. 

In general, all of the children will need some extra work at home.  In England, most of the students start school a year earlier, so even though the girls are placed with the right age group, they will also be behind on the reading and writing.  They should all fit in just fine with their Math skills though.  I'm just hoping that the children respond well to this and it improves them academically for when they return to the states.  I'm already encouraged that Avery brought home 3 books from the school library today and actually was excited to start reading them, I haven't seen him that excited about reading in a while. 

I got home yesterday and got a phone call from the school...they were excited to tell me that one of his classmates wanted to invite him to a birthday party, which is today after school.  I think this will be a big deal for Avery, for him to really get to know the boys in his class...I know it's going to make the adjustment a lot easier for him.  In addition, Avery's school has a sort of field day Saturday morning.  I guess this is a great opportunity for the boys and parents to get to know each other. 

Remember how I said how nice it was that I didn't have to worry about school supplies, just uniforms? WRONG!  We just got the list of school supplies for Avery yesterday, and I failed to find Mia's school supply list in the handbook.  I'm still not sure if Alexa needs any supplies.  I guess it wasn't a big deal that they didn't have their supplies...most kids didn't have everything they were supposed to, so I shouldn't feel too bad.  Oh well, so after a long day at school, we made the day even longer by going to the store last night to get all their supplies. 

Oh, and Avery keeps reminding me that he needs a mouth guard by next week..."Mom, don't forget the mouth guard, Mom, don't forget the mouth guard"......they start playing Rugby on Wednesday :-)