SCHOOL

The girls have finished their first week of school. No tears! French public school has been our number one concern since the day we set foot in Aix (really since the day we started talking about a sabbatical in France). We had heard stories of children having difficulty in French schools, and lots of tears after school. And so on Tuesday, the first day, with all of our nerves on high alert, we were ready and out the door ten minutes earlier than we planned. Mind you, this will be the only day that happens. We were not the first to arrive, but we were ahead of most.  We waited in front of a locked gate, watching other families arrive and watching for signals to proceed. Looking through the bars of the gate, we could see a building and a courtyard, but not much else. Finally, at 8h20, the directeur (principal) of the school unlocked the doors and welcomed everyone in. We introduced ourselves and the girls to him, but he already knew the girls’ names and situation and kindly introduced us to their teachers. He also explained (in English) that the girls would spend some time each day in a class designed for foreign students. There are three other students in the class.  We waited until the girls were lined up, then I kissed the tops of their heads and we waved good-bye.  I left relieved, but still nervous about their day and how they would feel about school. When the bell rang at 16h30, our girls came out smiling, happy and very willing to give full reports. They had a good day! And then, they had a day off because there are no classes on Wednesdays. Thursday and today they came home still happy with school, if a bit tired.

A little about the school:

L’ecole de Cuques is small with 120 students in 5 grade levels. This means there is one teacher per grade. School starts at 8:30 and finishes at 4:30 with a break from 11:30-1:30 in which the girls can sign up for extracurricular activities like gymnastics, theater, library or mixed sports. In addition, lunch is provided during the break. Hot lunch! Tuna and beans and tarts today, ham and fries and salad and custard yesterday. The school gate is locked at 8:30 and unlocked at 4:30 and it is very secure with a tall fence encircling the school grounds. There isn't a playground, but Rivi happily reported she was allowed to climb the trees (a little) and to crush rocks. It does sound like the rules are stricter, but mostly by the staff in the restaurant. Kyri was asked not to sing and the girls were shocked at one student being sent to a corner of the room to face the wall for talking and laughing too loudly to her friends at the lunch table.       

And now the list of supplies. We sweated over this list after hearing it was a nightmare to gather. It’s a long list, but I wouldn’t say a nightmare. Especially since so many stores carry everything on the list.

Here is Rivi’s list (Kyri’s is a bit shorter, but not by much):

Dans une trousse – In a pencil case:

2 stylos bleus – blue pens

1 stylo vert – green pen

1 stylo rouge – red pen

1 Gomme + un crayon gris – eraser + a pencil

1 Feutre - felt tip pen

1 Colle – glue stick

Ciseaux - scissors

Regle de 20 cm - ruler

2 Surligneurs fluo (2 couleurs differentes) – highlighters

1 Taille crayon – pencil sharpener

Une trousse de feutres – case of markers

Une trousse de crayons de couleurs – case of colored pencils

Un cahier de texte  - homework notebook

Agenda – agenda/calendar

Ne ardoise velleda avec feutres et chiffon – slate with felt and cloth

Un paquet de 100 pochettes plastiques 21/29.7 – plastic paper sheet covers

Un classeur souples transparent de 2 cm – transparent flexible binder

Un classeur de 4 cm epais - workbook

Deux porte-vues 60 vues (chorale et maths) – workbook for choir and math

Deux pochettes cartonnees a elastique – cardboard covers

Ne ramette 500 feuilles blanches 80 gr – ream of paper

Un boite de mouchoirs en papier – box of tissues

Dans un boite a chaussures maquee au nom de l’enfant (relerve pour l’annee) – in a shoebox labeled with child’s name.

5 stylos bleus – blue pens

2 stylos vert – green pens

3 feutres - felt marker

2 gommes - erasers

5 crayon gris - pencils

4 colles baton – glue stick

1 regle - ruler

3 surligneurs different - highlighters

Now compare that to our supply list in Canada:

For grade 3:

Sharpened pencils

Erasers

2 glue sticks

Pencil case

Box of Kleenex

2 Highlighters

Sharpened pencil crayons

Knapsack

Gym shorts/t-shirt/running shoes

It was a good week. Whew!