To School We Go

I just wanted to say a word or two about the school we picked for the kids.  We had an amazing tour with the principle.  It says a lot that the principle would take time out to provide this to us.  When we were walking around we absolutely got the feeling that this was the school for us, which is what I was hoping for, but hadn't counted on.  Except for the boys who where," yah whatever, looks good".  Keva was very excited as they do have French classes and a French Club and send kids on International Tours.  A girl in year 12 won a trip to France for getting high honours on her French Exams.  We understand that Keva's French will probably be at a grade 11/12 level already, so as long as she maintains to she will have a real advantage.  Language learning is highly valued here and we were told that if you graduate with a lauguage they automatically add 10% to you graduating average.  That is just huge.  We also found out that Keva has skipped a grade!  Because of the start of school in January, when Keva's birthday is, her age puts her firmly in Grade 9.  We have been advised(at every school we spoke to) to put her in Grade 9.  She is quite a dilegent student so I'm sure she will catch up soon and her school offers strong support if she needs it.  So she will now be the graduating class of  2015! The boys will have to go into Grade 11, their age is fine for this as their birthday is in August, but more important, Grade 11/12 is run as a two years course here.  They have to pick a track, either technical college or pre-university courses from Grade 11 and they follow that track through to graduation.  So, the boys have some decisions to make.  The school is just great.  The only downfall is the uniforms aren't quite as nice as some other schools(oh well) and the website isn't all that great.  Fine for us as we were able to experience the school first hand, but anyone looking at it wouldn't be able to tell what a great school it is.  The kids will be able to pick from some great options, snorkelling and camp is one, tennis, is another, and surfing is also offered.  They also have a proffessional photography studio and camera equipment.  The photography the students have done is phenomenal and has won all sorts of awards.  They also have an amazing metal, woodworking, jewlery designing shop.  They just have some great programs.  I was wondering how the kids will fit in all the fantastics things there are to do.  Besides the options the school scores extremely high in all the starndard testing scores.  The surrounding communities are really nice and give us lots of options for housing.  All around it is just such a great school.  I just can't wait to get the kids in there and get settled in the community.  It is just such a relief to not only have found a school, but one checks all those boxes.  As soon as we get an address we will be able to register then for the last couple of weeks of school.  They will just have enough time to learn their way around and hopefully make their entry in February a little more comfortable!  Now we must find a house.
   Other than this we are all feeling a little more comfortable in our surroundings.  Keva had her first babysitting job(from new best friend Kylie!) and is the first person in the family to recieve Australian income! The weather has been amazing as I'm sure you know from how much we talk about it. The pool has become a need with our home search! I woke up this morning at 7am and it was already 26degrees!  Today it is forcasted to be 37degrees, we'll see how it goes. I'm very firmly watching for heat stroke and dehydration, as well the UV index is at "Extreme". You can imagine sun protection is very important here. Well, I must sign off as we must get to the beach early before it gets too hot! Now it's 9am and 29 degrees!!