This is Maeghan and her teacher, Mrs. Redmain. Mrs. Redmain is retiring this year. Not that it really matters but Maeghan thought Mrs. Redmain will always be her teacher. She did not understand that she will get a different teacher next year. I was looking for a better picture of Maeghan that related to her school, as this post will mostly be about Maeghan and school, but this was the latest one I have. I have not uploaded the latest pictures I have, but I will be sure to do it on the next post.
My Internet connection is still well under par as I have been trying to post this message for about a week and have been unable to upload any pictures. It is something I am just resigning myself to until we next move. There does not seem to be any solution to getting a more reliable or faster connection. Telstra will not give you any information on what the real problem is or how long it will be before they upgrade. I live with dial up for work and this unreliable wireless connection for everything else.
Ok, I am going to get right into the reason for this post. It may take a while to get through because just thinking about it makes me cry and it is hard to type when I cannot see the screen or the keyboard. And before anyone starts reading ahead looking for the bad news, it is good news and there is nothing wrong. And I have already started crying because I am so proud.
Maeghan had her end of year program last week. It is the end of the year when they give out awards and certificates to all the kids. Maeghan got her certificate for completing her first year of school. I probably have to explain a little about what the school years are like in AU.
All kids start in what they call Kindy. You would think it was like kindergarten in the US but it is really more like first grade, although most of the kids are kindergarten age. Primary school consists of Kindy through 6th grade. Then they have secondary education which is 7th through 10th grade. I think I have mentioned that 10th grade is all you are required to complete in the school system over here. 11th and 12th grade are for those school kids who want to stay in school and who show some sort of aptitude for learning. As many of the teachers tell the students, if you do not want to be in class in the 11th or 12th grade, then don't come in. The teachers do not have to time or the discipline to try to manage kids who do not want to be there and are not going to try to learn anything.
I kind of think it is sort of a good plan but then I really think they should be required to go through 12th grade. This way, they only get students who are going to try and participate in class, so the kids get a better experience, but it does leave a lot of kids on the street who have no business being out of school or out of any kind of structured environment. With the government giving them money when they turn 16, I think it causes more problems with people staying on the dole and not doing anything to make their situations better. But that is a whole other discussion and not one I want to talk about now.
Along with Maeghan receiving her completion certificate, she got her name in this special paper that lists all the kids in New South Wales (think of it like a state in the US) who have completed the Premier's reading program. They have to read so many books a year to be able to get their name in the paper and Maeghan read about 4 time as many as was required.
On another side note, Maeghan got her report card a couple of weeks ago. She did really well with several outstanding marks and no marks below satisfactory. I think the lowest mark she got was in something they call drama. I have no idea what that is but Maeghans mark was 'sometimes participates'. Most of the other things in this grading category, she got either 'usually participates' or 'always participates'. You have to remember that this is Kindy, so grading students on their academic achievements is not really something that is practical. She did well in Math and of course reading. They do not give the usually grades of A, B, C or things like that but a more generic method of things like completed grade level requirements or exceeded grade level requirements and even a category or outstanding achievement. Maeghan got mostly exceeded grade level and I think one outstanding achievement. Nothing below completed grade level, so it was a good report card.
So, back to the awards ceremony. I have to mention that we did not know this ceremony was going to take place. Apparently, they sent a letter out to us telling us about it, but we never received it. So, not knowing it was happening, I went to work and Juanita dropped Maeghan off at school. It was just happenstance that someone mentioned to Juanita that there was an awards ceremony that day. She had William with her and Natalie but they decided to stay for it anyway, although I am told they considered leaving several times and William is William and not easy to handle in the school environment. She did not have the camera or anything with her besides her mobile phone. Both Natalie and Juanita took pictures with their phones and I have not loaded them to the computer yet, so I will have to wait to post them to the site.
Having said that, most of what I have to say now is hearsay from what they have told me went on during the awards. I was not there, so I did not see any of this. And just so it is clear, I am really upset that I did not get to go. Not that it was any one's fault and I cannot blame anyone, it is upsetting that I missed all of these awards and will never get those moments back. But I suppose it is ok. Having not been there, I am sure I can embellish the story in years to come without the limitation of knowing the exacts facts.
Near the end of the program, the principal got up and said she had an announcement to make. With all this buildup, I am sure you can imagine what was coming, but I want to tell it anyway.
The principal said she was giving out the Principal's Special Award this year, apparently not something they do every year. I may not have the facts straight on this, but I believe she said this is the first time she had been able to give the award to a Kindy student. In the past, it has always been one of the upper grades, year 4 or 5, but this year they were giving the award to Maeghan. My understanding is, the award is for outstanding student in the school. All grades, all classes. It is not necessarily for the best grades or leadership or participation but it is an overall award for all these things and more. The outstanding student in the school.
It was apparently kept secret and no one knew the award was being given nor that it was being given to Maeghan. Not having been there, I cannot say what kind of reaction Maeghan, Juanita, or the crowd had to this announcement, but I am sure if I had been there, I would have been embarrassing myself as much as possible.
I think they had called Maeghan to the stage and she had to stand there while the principal made the announcement and read the award. Juanita said Maeghan was really embarrassed to be up there. I can imagine her smiling at me in the crowd and holding on to her dress and being bashful. I wish I had been there.
I am going to take a photo of the award and post it soon. It is just a certificate and we had it framed, but I will type out the words on the award so you can know what it says.
It says
Principal's Special Award
2008
Awarded to
Maeghan Jernigan
for
Her indomitable will to succeed despite the physical challenges she faces. Maeghan provides an inspiration to us all through the courage, determination and persistence she demonstrates in every aspect of school life. Maeghan was an absolute star in the K-2 concert held earlier this year. She out-danced everybody on the stage.
Helen McDonald
10th December, 2008
Well, that is what it says. Hard to type that and not start crying. I will take a picture of it and post it, along with some of the pictures they took with the phones. Hopefully, they will come out and be able to be read in the blog.
I am not sure what all this means to Maeghan. Probably not a lot, but as you can tell, it meant a lot to me. I am so proud of her and the award really came out of the blue for us. I have always mentioned that everyone in the school seems to know who Maeghan is. We still do not know why that is, but it still occurs everyday, people coming up to her and saying hi. I think Maeghan has grown tired of it and all the attention but there must be something she is doing as everyone keeps coming back to acknowledge her.
I suppose I should mention a few other things. Maeghan just had her ballet concert a couple of weeks ago. I have most of it on tape and DVD. I will pull out some of the parts with Maeghan in them to post them on my YouTube channel. I don't know if I can make them short enough to be accepted but I will try.
One thing to note from the concert, when they were giving out the awards at the end of the concert, when they announced Maeghan's name, she got a standing ovation. The only one who did. Ok, maybe it was just me standing, but she did get the loudest and longest clap. Even Miss Jilly, her teacher, commented on it. I ran out of battery power in the middle of the awards, but I got a lot of it on my camera video, including Maeghan getting her award and the comment the teacher made.
Maeghan had one big part in the show but the part with her class, she was in the back and you could not see her. I have it on film but you cannot really see Maeghan in that one skit. In the other, most of it is a closeup of Maeghan, so you do not really get a sense of what everyone else was doing during that part. You get the gist of it, but Maeghan is the focus in my video. There was another guy they 'hired' to film the whole show. I am not sure what he got or if it is available to everyone. He was by no means a professional photographer but he seemed to have better equipment that I did. A few times during my filming, the camera, or actually the tripod, was acting up and the movement of the camera is jerky. But for the most part, it is just fine. I did have the issue of being too close to the stage so that my camera could not take in the entire stage. I might have missed some things at the edges, but again, overall it is a good video.
I have to go now. I have been asked repeatedly during my typing of this to do different things around the house and I probably should do some of them. I had planned on putting together Juanita and mine's new bikes we are getting for Christmas but it appears I will not get the chance. We are putting them together now because we need to ride them a little before Christmas so we can get used to them. We are planning on taking them with us camping so I don't want the first time to be back on a bike in two years to be while we are camping and trying to pull the kids behind us.
Explaining that, we got the kids a trailer sort of thing that attaches to the back of the bike that allows the kids to sit in it and be towed. I have been told that it is not that difficult but I was told that by someone who rides their bike everyday. So, for me, it will near impossible to pull them around for very long, hence the need to start getting used to it now.
William has a couple of stories but they will have to wait. I am writing down reminders right now, so I will not forget later, but you never know if I will remember where I wrote it down.
Anyway, I need to go.
So, until next time
Talk to you later
Sunday, December 14, 2008
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