First day of school

The alarm was on for 5:40 so that I could drive Nigel back down to where his car was. The road outside had been ploughed so it was easier than the night before. There were not many cars on the road. It was also Nigel’s first day at his Uni course. We got to his car and we decided that I would follow him for a while incase his car overheated again. By the time we got to my turn off from the freeway he hadn’t shown any sign of problems so I left him and tried to get up the Mountain Highway to school.

I arrived at 18th street to find a van pulled up near the turn to school with hazard lights on. I stopped and hopped out. I put my hazard lights on and walked up the couple of hundred meters to the school carpark. I was walking through about 15 cm of snow on an uphill slope. Colleen had got her 4-wheel drive up but had problems. She decided to close the road and with one of the custodians started digging out paths for the kids to get to school. There are no school buses for this school. All students either walk, or get a lift from their home. I had to try and find a park somewhere. The church across the road had a carpark but that looked too dangerous. I met Blair Martin who is the vice-principal and he said he had parked 2 streets up the hill. I found one there also and walked back down to school. It was still dark.

Students began to arrive at about 8:40. There is no before, or after school supervision of students. There are no school buses. Most students walk to school and some get dropped off. Today they are arriving in gear to cope with the snow and rain. Their clothes and bags are hung up in the cloak area inside the classroom and they all have individual tables/desks. They start off on Mondays with 30 minutes of Music with a specialist. They all took their recorders with them. They get 3 Music sessions a week.

A daily timetable looks like:

9:00 – 10:30 class
10:30 – 10:50 recess
10:50 – 12:00 class
12:00 – 12:15 eating lunch in the classroom monitored by 7th grade students and duty persons specially employed to monitor the yard and halls and classrooms on an inside timetable. Teachers do not do yard duty. All teachers have a 45 minute break every day
12:15 – 12:45 Students at play
12:45 warning bell
12:50 – 2:50 class time
2:50 Dismissal

Staff meetings once a month.

I met several of the parents, who were all very welcoming. Everyone keeps saying how unusual it is to be getting so much snow in Vancouver.
I also took my class for a 40 minute session in the computer room and 40 minutes in the Library. I have 26 students, but only 23 today. They seem like an interesting bunch.

Got home to find that the snow plough had been along Prospect Avenue. It had left a pile of snow and ice about 60 cm high and about a meter wide across the driveway. I spent about 90 minutes clearing a path from the front steps to the driveway and then ½ the width of the driveway all the way to the roadway. I cleared all of the snow and ice left by the plough. As you clear the paths and drives the snow begins to get higher along the edge of these. There are piles on the road on either side of the driveway that are about 2 meters high. Luckily we have rain forecast for the next few days and not more snow.

Nigel came up and told me that he had managed to get his car to BCIT just before it overheated. He had to leave it there for the night because he needs to change a blown hose that he is getting shipped down from his parent’s place on the Sunshine Coast. He asked me to drive him to the shops so that he could buy binders, paper and supplies for his uni course. He has also asked for another lift to the bus interchange in the morning. That means leaving by just after 6 am again.