First Day of School

Today was the first day of classes at Parrish and Sabrina's new school. They are both attending the Stamford American International School in Singapore. This is a brand new school that just opened it's doors today so we are excited to be part of this exciting event. Currently the school has only primary grades. Next year middle school grades with be added and then the year after will be high school grades. We chose this school for it's language program and international teaching philosophy. Plus, having Sabrina able to attend the same school as Parrish was a big bonus. The class sizes are amazing. Parrish has 10 kids in her 1st grade class. Each grade level has only 1 class and I think grade 3 and 4 are combined. Sabrina is in the nursery program for half days and there are 11 toddlers, which is the biggest class size so far.

By the name of the school you would think only a large population of American kids attend, however there is a very diverse group of children from all over the world and some that are Singaporean. I do not know the make-up of Parrish's class yet, but we have had a chance to meet several kids and parents from different social events. Many families are mixed nationalities and some have been in the expat circuit for many, many years. For the American families that we meet, many of them are on their first assignment like us. We find quite a few Australian, British and Canadian families on their 2nd of 3rd assignment or have lived as an expat for over 8 years. Usually they have the same story that is, "we originally thought we'd only be here 2 years".

Here is a picture of the girls waiting for the bus in their new school uniforms.....


Parrish has PE on Mondays and Wednesdays so she is wearing her PE uniform while Sabrina is wearing a polo and skort.

Being a small school they do some special things like provide backpacks for all the kids. Sabrina too! Although when she wears hers on her back, not that it stays there very long, the backpack almost hits the floor.

School starts at 8:30 in the morning and ends around 3:20 in the afternoon. Sabrina only goes for a half day until 11:30am.

Parrish came home from school today very happy and excited to tell me about some things they did in class. This is a good start! Sabrina unfortunately could not attend the first day of classes today despite getting her ready to go. About a week ago we noticed a rash around her mouth and on the back of her neck that was red and had raised bumps. We suspected heat rash because it's very common in this hot and humid environment. However, after a week there was only a little improvement but Sabrina's energy and attitude was still very normal. The school nurse err'ed on the side of caution and preferred that a doctor take a look to rule out hand, foot and mouth virus. So that's what we did today. We did get some nice creams that will hopefully help clear up her skin a little faster.

Last Friday there was an open house at the school so that all the parents, students, administrative staff and teachers could come together and get acquainted. The event was really well planned out starting with a morning breakfast around 8am in the new school cafeteria. After breakfast the music teacher kicked off a short program in which the principal and some administrative staff spoke before the school tour.

Here is a picture of Parrish riding the nursery/preschool trikes and a picture of her with her new teacher, Ms. Voroney from Canada.