changes

My son Tom starts school tomorrow. I guess that this is one of those transitional phases that parents and their children go through, and even though Tom has been attending pre-school since was three, this is a far more complete break.

When I first went to school at Rose Bay Public back in the sixties, schooling was quite a different proposition. I have only a fairly fleeting memory of that first year, though I remember the old, high-ceilinged rooms. Later on came the square exercise books with wide spaced blue lines, the stubby pencils, inkwells and scratchy red-stemmed nib-pens. Issued books and equipment came with the imposing seal of the Department of Education, which seemed to me like some exotic and ancient authority at the time. School wasn't a fun place and was never intended as such. Perhaps we were the last of the 'seen and not heard' cohort to go through the system.

The set-up at Hazelbrook is quite different. Much friendlier classrooms, individual learning programs and hi-tech white boards are just a few of the innovations. Gone is the ubiquitous stern preceptor, uniform rows of desks and ruler across the knuckles for looking up from one's book. Learning was once imposed - now it seems to be a little more wholistically based. All good, as far as I'm concerned.

So, while I am looking forward to getting more time to pursue self-directed projects this year, and to seeing my little boy in his over-sized uniform in the morning, it is still a little sad. And inevitably, I include one summer holiday snap, taken on the ferry to Rose Bay in early January this year. For Tom, a time before the deluge.