Back to school

Many mums will be so relieved, now that school has started again, after a summer holiday of 7 weeks. As you may notice the new school year doesn't start on a Monday, but on Wednesday, so 'that the kids don't get worn out the first week back'. Sometimes it seems like school is not taken seriously here.

Seeing all this schoolkids crowding the road this morning reminded me that we will have to enrol Ilias soon. He will start on 11 September, the day he turns 5. We can choose between Raumati Beach school (without swimmingpool) and Raumati South school (with swimmingpool and just around the corner from us). There's also a Steiner school, which is even closer, but there kids start only at the age of 6. Ilias seems already so bored at his nursery, that he definitely couldn't last another year there. So, the choice should be easy. In a country with an average number of people drowning per year of 105 (one of the worst records in the developed world) I believe it's very important to be confident in the water. Unfortunately NZ schools don't provide compulsory swimming lessons, and therefore it's up to the parents to pay for them. Obviously many families can't afford taking their kids to the swim school and are left out, what makes them rather vulnerable in a country that is surrounded by water and covered in lakes. I wish the government started subsidising swim courses at schools, because that would surely improve the poor swimming skills of many kids and adults. I must admit though, that quite a few skilled swimmers drown here due to 'rips' (onderstroom). Last weekend a young mum drowned that way on the East Coast. Obviously accidents like that are very hard to prevent.