Aidan's Big Adventure!

Hi from New Zealand!

- Aidan wearing his school uniform on the first day of term -

I'm now living in Manapau Street, which is in the suburb of Meadowbank, in Auckland. Auckland is the biggest city, but not the capital of New Zealand. Meadowbank is quite close to the centre of Auckland, but when you see my walk to school, it doesn't look like Glasgow or Edinburgh at all! It's all so green!

- The walk to school -

I started going to Meadowbank Primary School. It's quite a big school, and most of the buildings only have one storey. I go to the Junior side of the school, which is where years 0, 1, 2 and 3 are. Year 0 is like Nursery school, for when you turn five. You start school on your fifth birthday in New Zealand. Then you start Year 1 (Primary 1) in the January following that. I'm in Year 1, in Room 20.

- Aidan's classroom -

To get to the Junior side of the school I have to walk through the senior side of the school, then down one side of a gully and up the other side. The gully has a special trail made in it, and we sometimes go down there with our teacher to go on bug hunts! There are lots of bugs here (especially cicadas :-) and mosquitos :-( ).

- A cicada skin -

My new teacher is Miss Coster (but once or twice a week I have Miss Bracewell instead), and there are 24 children in my class - 12 boys and 12 girls. I wear green shorts, either a green and white striped poloshirt or a red one, sandals, and a bucket hat when I go to school. And of course, sunblock! It's summer here, and if we want to play outside we have to wear our hats.

Everyone takes a packed lunch to school, and we eat it outside sitting in the shade. Then we're allowed to go and play - we have a great climbing frame just outside our class room! Every second Friday some of the parents from the PTA get together and do a Sausage Sizzle for lunch - I had this on Friday - it was yummy.

- The playground -

I'm learning lots of the same kind of things I learned in Scotland - how to read and write, and we go to the school library once a week, and have news time, music, and P.E., and assembly.

I really like my new school, but I miss my friends back in Scotland too.

love,
Aidan x