Nice 2016 - School

I've been waiting to write about the schools in Nice until we managed to get settled. Well, I think we're as settled as we're going to get - just in time for the two week holiday, so here goes.

First Days

Kyri's first day and week went incredibly smooth. She was placed in a split class of CM1 and CM2 (grade 4/5) and has a great teacher.

In Kyri's words:

"I like my school in France because my class has a theme: Harry Potter. This means that all year round, we have cool decorations, and what's more, Houses! We have 3 houses: Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, and Ravenclaw. You might be asking, "why don't you have Slytherin?" FYI: It's rude. You play team games with your house and you earn team points. I'm in Gryffiindor, like Harry."

Before we could register Rivi, she had to take a placement exam, which was only scheduled a week after school started. Then we had to wait another week for the results. Then, two weeks after school officially started, Rivi had her first day. Rivi's first day was a nightmare. It started out okay, we dropped her off with the FLS (French as a Second Language) teacher, then picked her up at noon for lunch. At 2:00, I walked back with Rivi and went to the office to finally fully register her, which went very smoothly. And then I went to run errands. When I arrived home an hour later, Rivi was at the house with Ori. She explained first that she should have returned at 1:00 and second that she was released from school at 2:30 - two hours earlier than we expected. She had tried to call, but couldn't get through so she walked home. Thank goodness she was able to find her way and Ori was home to let her in the door. Day two wasn't any better. Again, she walked home due to a schedule conflict. After three days, Rivi received a draft of her schedule and we then discovered that she would be arriving at and leaving school at different times throughout the week. The schedule continued to change for another two weeks.

Rivi with her school in the background

In Rivi's words:

"After elementary school back at home, I never thought middle school could be like this. At the beginning of the year, no one had my schedule ready, so I was going about in the hallways wondering where I should be. The school only gave me the final copy a week ago, and made me start school two weeks late. After the first day, I was ready to never come back. However, I started to talk to some of the french kids in my class. They are friendly, and I adjusted quickly after that. Everyone is nice, except for the science professor, who didn't want to accept me into her class, and the cantine, which is french for cafeteria, who won’t let me in to eat there. That means I come home every day for lunch. So far, french middle school has showed no sign of celebrating anything (including Halloween) and to make it worse, the recess yard is a blacktop with benches! The school goes up 5 floors, and the walk up every day is kind of tiring. I guess middle school is all right, and I know it will get me ready for next year when I go into the Canadian one, so I’m happy to do it anyways. I’ll be prepared."

An early version of Rivi's schedule

Lunch 

Because of our experience in Aix-en-Provence, we expected the girls would go into the Cantine from day one. Nope. I won't go into the details why, but what this means, is that our days have been quite chaotic. Here is our daily schedule (except Wednesdays when both girls have a half day):

8:20 - drop off Kyri

9:00 - drop off Rivi (except on Friday when it's 8:00)

11:30 - pick up Kyri

12:00 - pick up Rivi

1:00 - drop off Rivi

1:30 - drop off Kyri

3:45 - pick up Kyri

pick up Rivi (Rivi leaves school between 12 and 5 depending on the day)

Fortunately, we've managed to be irritating enough that after the break, Kyri will start going to the Cantine. Yeah for her, yeah for me and Ori. 

So it was a rough start, but the girls have managed beautifully and are making friends. I wish there had been more communication from Rivi's school and more guidance, but she's really learned to assert herself and has shown amazing courage. I'm incredibly proud of both girls for their bravery. I cannot imagine doing what we are asking them to do.