In the unlikely event that our family did not experience enough changes over the past twelve months, we added one more big one to the list on the last day of January when Katie started secondary school. We are just beginning to absorb all that this entails, at least at Presbyterian Ladies College, which is why I have not attempted a post about school life sooner. I feel that perhaps we might be coming to the top of the steep learning curve, although this conclusion may prove debatable. In any case, there are many things I have found intriguing about Katie's school life, and I hope some of them may be of some interest to my readers as well.
I must first acknowledge that I am not the most qualified to write a post about differences between American and Australian schools having never sent a child to school in the U.S. Not only that, but somehow more than two decades have passed since my own experience. However I will make an attempt. For starters, there seems to be no concept of middle school in Victoria. The American equivalent of high school begins in seventh grade, called Year 7. Before this students attend primary school, where they are often divided into junior (Prep through Year 2) and senior (Year 3 through Year 6) levels. Kindergarten is referred to as "Prep," while preschool-aged children attend Kinder. College is what we call high school, while "uni" seems to be the preferred term for post-secondary education.
The focus of all the attention on education falls squarely on the secondary level. Colleagues at Heinz have confirmed to Ross that where you attend high school is far more important, both for your career as well as for your social life, than your university experience. Sending children to private school is perhaps because of this far more common than in the U.S., at least beginning at Year 7. Tuition can be very steep, around $18,000 per year for the top schools, and that doesn't include the $1000 needed for uniforms, nor the additional $1000 for books. The key year is Year 12 for students desiring to attend university, for it is during this year that the test scores a student earns determine where s/he will be accepted and into which program.
The academic year in Australia, like the entire educational system, is based on the British model. It is divided into four terms, the first of which begins around the first of February and ends in April. Terms have two to three week holidays separating them, except at Christmas when most students have a six week or longer summer break (saying Christmas and summer holidays in the same sentence will never feel quite right). I think this has several advantages to the North American school calendar, including less fatigue throughout the year due to the evenly-spaced holiday breaks, as well as the benefit of less catch up required at the beginning of a new year. This may in part explain why at Katie's school the first three-and-a-half weeks are devoted to something called House Concerts rather than being required for review. Homework is kept to an absolute minimum as every single student is required to be involved in the productions.
To better describe the House Concerts, I will back up a bit and explain that the students in each year level are divided into classes, called forms. Each form is assigned to one of six houses at Presbyterian Ladies College, all named after Scottish castles. Katie belongs to Balmoral, while her friend Rebekah was assigned to Atholl. The other four houses are Stirling, Glamis (pronounced Glawms), Rosslyn, and Leven. Each house elects captains and various other leaders. There is no sorting hat at PLC, but daughters and sisters always belong to the same house, and the girls clearly make references to the similarities to the houses at Hogwarts. At the beginning of the year, for example, the house captains posted a humorous request from the headmaster for common rooms a la Hogwarts, and the main character in one of the concerts was named "DumbleyFloor." Girls also compete throughout the year to earn points for their house with the object of winning the year's House Cup.
I don't know all of the reasons behind starting the school year with House Concerts, but it appears to be a great way to get the girls in each house better acquainted across the year levels and working together for a common goal, namely putting on a great production and hopefully winning the title for their house. Auditions are held during the first week of school for acting parts, dancing, and singing. Each house also forms an orchestra and chooses props, lighting and sound masters. While there are adult supervisors, all of the work is done by the girls themselves. They are given a theme and a modest budget, and then must put together something between a long skit or short play that includes introductory music from the orchestra, two dance numbers which must be choreographed by the girls, and at least two songs performed by ensembles.
Katie's involvement in her house concert included assisting with painting the props on Saturdays (large amounts of paint ended up on clothing and skin), and performing the role of the alarm clock. This suited her well, because she was able to remain hidden behind a giant cardboard clock which periodically went off (she waved it up and down). We were amazed at the backdrop the girls created under the leadership of a clearly talented art captain, but unfortunately were not permitted to take pictures.

Each house has a house color. Balmoral's color is white, and for this reason Katie often wears a white ribbon in her hair to school. I noticed the ribbons in schoolgirls' hair during our exploratory visit in February of 2010. I don't think we have seen so many ribbons and bows since we lived in Texas, and certainly never at the secondary level.

After House Concerts, Year 7 students have a fairly normal two weeks, and then they are off to camp. Outdoor Education is considered essential in Australia, with all student going on some type of camp beginning around Year 4. Students are challenged to perform physical tasks they have never before attempted, and they learn how to safely bushwalk, as well as how to sleep out in the bush in tents, and cook for themselves. Katie is "on camp" as I write, and we are looking forward to welcoming her back on Friday and hearing all about it. She was instructed to take lots of pictures, some of which I hope will appear in a future post.
There are still many new experiences ahead, but the school year appears to be off to a great start for our eldest. She has been the one, really, to climb the learning curve, and her determination has served her well. One funny thing that I never thought to tell her about were school bells. Her Year 6 teacher told me that she nearly jumped out of her skin on her first day every time the bell rang, and I know there were other things that caused occasional anxiety. We have yet to hear Katie complain about any aspect of school life, however, and she even seems happy to do her homework each night. For this and for so much more we are grateful.
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