FIRST WEEK OF SCHOOL

Let me finally introduce you to Hilton Special School. It is a school that sits on the west side of Waimanu road, opposite Suva's CWM hospital. I arrive at 8am in the morning and the school is quiet. I walk down the hill towards the school's assembly area. M.A, the school's recemptionist, greets us with a "Yadra!" as she sweeps the leaves away from the gravel assembly area. To the right is Master P's vocational training building and to the left is the main school building. From the back of the school, you can see this:



But be careful, the school is on a cliff edge and the fence that separates the school grounds from the cliff edge is in need of repair.

The school starts from "Transition" which is like a prep-level class that is mainly for those with the more severe intellectual disabilities. The children's ages range from about 6 right through to 19. Then there are grades 1-4 for the "physically impaired" and grades 1-7 for the "hearing impaired". After this there are vocational classes.

The children begin to arrive at about 8:15. Now the chatter, squeals of excitement and pattering feet can be heard down the school's main narrow corridor. The hostel children arrive with J and they wave and sign "good morning" in auslan. Then the first busload arrives. It is at this point the school jumps to life. Now I mentioned the narrow corridor which is also very dark because the lights haven't been turned on yet. I walk down the corridor towards the Physiotherapy department. I get bumped by Illie, Ju wraps her arms around me to say hello (she doesn't speak...yet), Jaz tries to tickle me and Sol tries to teach me more signing words so I can understand what Jaz is trying to say to me.

I push open two massive sliding doors that open up into a room about 10x7metres. This is the Physiotherapy department. My laptop is set up and my bag is stored in the dusty cupboard where all the equipment is kept. At the back of the Physiotherapy "department" (which is actually just a single room) there is a hydrotherapy pool of about 3 metres squared. Currently it is looking a bit algae-y as it is too cold to be doing any hydrotherapy at the moment. Cold is about 20 degrees here.

And of course there is no way I can do any work before 9am. Azzie, being exceptionally curious will come up to me and turn my laptop towards herself and ask me to explain everything to her. Tee also dances up to my desk and demands that I play "mercy" with her.

Then finally, the bell rings at 9:00am for classes to start.

The halls fill with the morning songs and prayers that open up each class for the day.

So far I've been observing the children in their classroom environment. They all participate in reading, phonics, mathematics, singing and of course, writing. The classrooms are heavily decorated with alphabet posters, mobiles made from coathangers, hand-drawn posters of stories that they have read together, fallen tree branches with small pieces of paper hanging off them. All the windows look out over Suva harbour and there's this gorgeous breeze that frequents the classroom throughout the morning.

And just like that, morning tea passes by at 10:30. The next session reconvenes at 10:45. The school prefects supervise the classes until the teachers return from morning tea at about 11:00. Lunch comes around and the children say grace before eating their meals at their desks in their classrooms. The bell rings again at 12:15 and the chatter, the laughter, the screaming and the running feet pervade the hallway and the school grounds once more.

Lunch comes and goes and the children assemble for some announcements before heading inside for the last 2 hours of classes, clubs or physical education.

And where do I fit in all of this? More to come next post =)