Monday, December 10, 2012

Read between the lines.

Dear Parents,

On Wednesday this week, reports will be handed out. On Thursday there will be class break up parties, a farewell to the year 7s and a final school assembly. The kids will have emptied their tidy trays and taken all their books and pencils home. Their chairs will be stacked in piles and the desks will be pushed against the walls.

On Friday, the teachers use the day to tidy up their own stuff, empty filing cabinets, finish filing everything and moving their things into the classrooms they'll be teaching in next year. There is a special lunch for staff. While some children come to school, attendance on this day is not expected. There will be no lessons held. The few children who are at school will be grouped together and put to work cleaning. Notes will not be sent home for children who are absent.


It's been a great year, but we are all looking forward to THURSDAY afternoon. We hope you have a lovely holiday.

Yours etc.

5 comments:

  1. My kids love the cleaning day and helping with moving stuff. I love sending them on the last day to enjoy my last few hours of not having all four kids at home at the same time ;)

    Our guys don't finish until next Wednesday, and the teachers have pupil free days through until the Friday....

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  2. See, I have been totally unable to read between the lines ;)

    But I may have to take myself off to one of the schools I might be working at next year next Wednesday (with the small children since I have no child care on a Wednesday), so I would much prefer it if my big kids could go to their school so they are supervised...

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    1. I think NSW has the right idea in making those last two days pupil free.

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  3. It's Friday 21st in Victoria, although some private schools finished on Monday 3rd!?

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  4. When I was a little un, Friday was break-up day and clean-up day for all. We would have our little parties in our classrooms (I think tables were pushed together to make a big table) or in the under-the-classrooms section of the building on trestle tables if our teacher wanted to be kind to the cleaning staff. We probably cleared out our individual 'stuff' on the Thursday and helped our teacher clear out our cohort's stuff from the classroom on the Friday. At our school, back in the early '80s, all the teachers were established in their own little niches and didn't change classroom - wonderful continuity for younger siblings being able to find their way when their turn for a particular teacher came up because it was where brother / sister X or Y had been.

    All the teachers seemed to have their party at lunch-time. I can't remember who supervised the playground - maybe we were allowed to run amok except that as it was the last day there wasn't any perceived 'advantage' for anyone to so, so no-one did. Memory is a funny thing.

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