high school entry

Big day today. Joel (currently year 7) had his high school interview and audition day. We don't live in the (very small) catchment area for the high school we want him to go to. It's in town, right near church. We got Nathan (year 8) in on special music entry before we knew where we would be living. But the school has no sibling policy and so Joel has to get in on his own merits. There are many, many kids wanting out of zone entry and a limited number of places available.

Joel has had a hard time settling this year. He's been very anxious (about all sorts of things - most of which wouldn't have ever been an issue in Brisbane) and quite unhappy. But hearing about the possibility of a special art program at this high school brightened things considerably. If he gets in, he'll be part of an art extension class that gets 3x 70 min art lessons per week. How cool would that be! For the first time, his future in Cairns wasn't all gloom. But getting in is far from certain. Today he had to submit a portfolio of his art work. He had an interview where he had to talk about a few pieces and he had to do a still life drawing test.

Yesterday we stuck some of Joel's pics into a visual art diary. Most of his best stuff seems to be done on little bits of paper. All rather messy... But I felt there was enough there for the teachers to see his style and the fact that he has good ideas.

Apparently it went well. The teacher took lots of photos and said his work was the most original of all she had seen that day (not sure how many she had seen!) So we are hopeful.

He also auditioned for music entry on bass clarinet. His playing is okay and we wanted him to do this as a back up. But Joel doesn't want music entry. Music entry would mean he doesn't get to do any art at all (in yr 8). (And art entry means that he won't do classroom music - but at least he can still play in concert band etc.)

Joel will be pretty devastated if he doesn't get in. The move to Cairns has been really hard for him. This is the one thing he is looking forward to. If he doesn't get in, we'll reconsider our address. The thought of having our kids at three different schools is just too hard!