High School?!

Eeeek! We have a high schooler! Today, Ben had his first day of school as a Year 10 student at Cashmere (pronounced CASH-mear) High. He got dressed in his new uniform: white polo shirt with the school crest, black shorts, topped off with light grey knee-high socks and black school shoes (what we’d been calling church shoes in the States). I don’t think he minded the shirt and shorts, but the socks and shoes were almost a deal breaker. Of course when he got to school he said that everyone else was dressed much the same.

Stationery was another first day chore and again we took advantage of the fact that the school stocks a supply that families can buy from. Just to give you an idea of the stationery requirements, Year 10 students were expected to purchase several 1B8 Exercise Books, a 2B8 Hard Covered Exercise Book, either a 1E5, 1J5, or 1J8 Maths Exercise Book, and a few other bits and pieces.

We’re still trying to figure out the best drop-off/pick-up schedule since Ben attends from 8:45 am – 3:05 pm, and the younger two attend from 9:00 am – 3:00 pm. We’re not too far from either school and could probably walk to the primary school in about 20 - 25 minutes, but the hill from our house down to the schools makes this sort of intimidating.

Ben says about his first day: The school was really big, but everyone was friendly and helpful. Most of the kids called me Ben (pronounced Bean), but some started calling me “California”. I thought that was pretty neat. I’m in Form 10 KH, which is sort of like a small team of 20 people. I’m taking all of the basic subjects (Maths (sic), Science, Social Studies, and English), and then Art, and Technology as my options. My favourite part of today was meeting the people in my Form class and getting my new stationery.