Fast as you can

Sullivan Primary School: Round 18

I said yesterday that it was a huge enrolment at the primary school this round and I was not exaggerating.

I think that's all of them in this picture - there are 15 kids! None are townies, these are all the offspring of actual Sullivan and Exeter residents. This was the first time I had to use a second teacher and the natural choice was Hanna, Augustin's wife.



I split them into Infants and Primary groups, which how Australian primary schools are generally set up. Infants is grades Kindergarten through Grade 2 and Primary is grades 3 through 6.

Hanna took the infants: Aaron, Josie, Maia, Claudia, Victoria, Finn and Jacob. Augustin took the primary kids: Olivia, Lia, Asha, Ione, Rose, Joanna, Cordy and Luc. Geez, look how unbalanced that is, gender-wise! I didn't even realise while I was playing!

Some were returning students, like Lia and Ione, who were already long-time friends.

Some were meeting each other for the first time, like Asha and Maia.

Twin sisters Claudia and Victoria are sticking together.

Some of the younger students, like Aaron (who is actually Hanna's grandson) are more keen to talk to the teachers than the students.

With some encouragement, the littler kids are making friends in no time.

The older kids know what school is about and get right down to work without much fuss. Augustin could even leave the room knowing they'd continue to work.

Hanna is having considerably more trouble with the infants. It's a challenge to even keep them in their seats. Talking about things they've seen the older kids doing is much more interesting.

And any written work is met with a chorus of groans. School is not always fun.

These kids need constant reminders to stay on task.

Using computer time as a reward for finishing work in a timely fashion works a treat though.

Of course, the primary students aren't perfect! The activity tables are really meant only for sketching out painting ideas but Ione has pulled some blocks out from somewhere and is using those instead.

Then we have child prodigies like Olivia, painting masterpieces at the age of 11! Luc's working on an interesting piece of abstract art next to her too.

And at this point, I'm glad I put in three long tables in the cafeteria. They've barely filled two in the past.

All the kids, infants and primary, love the play equipment. Jacob must have studied Physiology, because he maxed out his body points in no time. I guess he won't have any trouble getting the athletic scholarship when the time comes!

Just to show you what my interface looked like during this session. This is right before I realised I'd need another teacher, so I also had Hanna right under Augustin's icon (his is the one on its own on the right). Some of these kids are aging to teen this round but I'm not sure how many are also aging to child for the rest of this round and the next. I could end up with less kids or...please no...more!

Notes:

• You didn't get to see much (or anything, I don't think) of Maia as a child in her family's update but she obviously did age up and as always, there's a close-up in her profile. I think she turned out really pretty.
• Ione, Olivia and Lia must be complete nerds because no 11-year-olds in real life want to sit with the teacher at lunch. 6-year-olds on the other hand - in my experience, they'll fight over sitting near the teacher anywhere.