Kindergarten students eager beavers to start learning
WEEKS of eager waiting to go to “big school” came to an exciting end for thousands of kindergarten students across the state yesterday.
NSW
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LITTLE Brianna D’Silva’s first day at “big school” couldn’t start soon enough, with the enthusiastic five-year-old rousing her sleeping parents at 6am — long before that first bell rang.
“I’m going make new friends and be the teacher’s favourite student in the class,” she declared, barely able to contain her excitement.
After weeks of waiting, Brianna’s crisp new uniform was now laid out on her bed — ready to finally wear — and her new pencil case was packed in her school bag.
“She has been counting the nights,” her father Brendon said. “Today she was up at six o’clock in the morning, jumped into our bed and said ‘It’s my first school day, I become a big girl today’.”
Her excitement was echoed — alongside a lot of nerves and some trepidation — in about 300,000 children across Australia who are now embarking on their schooling journey.
Brianna joins big brother Aidan, 7, at St Andrew’s Catholic Primary school in Marayong in Sydney’s west.
Aidan had his first day in his new Year 2 class on Tuesday, while Kindergarten kids across the nation are starting their 13 years of schooling over the following days.
After breakfast, Brianna was delighted to don her uniform at last, and ask Dad for help doing up her shiny school shoes.
She packed her lunch box — a jam sandwich, fruit and a water bottle — in her bag and it was finally time to head to school.
Brianna beamed as she walked through the school gates holding her mum Primrose Fernandes’ hand.
Mum and Dad watched as Brianna was shown where to hang her bag and given an introduction to class.
Then they were handed a KitKat with a note attached telling them to “take a break”.
Teacher Lauren Spencer-Salt has the first day routine well under control, saying the key is to be prepared and have the day fastidiously planned otherwise the excited youngsters “eat you alive”.
Thankfully there were no tears — at least not from the students. These students were captivated as Miss Spencer-Salt told them, while learning to cut and paste, that: “In Kindergarten we’re all colourful, we’re all different ... that’s what makes us sparkle and shine and makes us a wonderful community.”
In a gentle introduction to school life, the kindy day finished early at noon — and Brianna raced to hug her mum and show her a picture she made on her first day.