Kindergarten

Hot damn and hallelujah our boy can go to Kindergarten!! Holy smokes, after all that looking at preschools and being so disheartened, I've learned that Cooper IS eligible for Kindergarten this coming school year. Phew!  The statement on the NSW's website is confusing (and not just to me!) so I double checked yet again and yes, he can go!

Plunkett Street Public School

Today we headed to Woolloomooloo, an area of city, where we visited one of the two public schools where Cooper can attend Kindergarten next fall (fall here/February).  Because of where we are located,  we fall in a sort of grey areas as to which school is our "neighborhood"school.  The one we visited today in Woolloomooloo or another in an area called Darlinghurst. Both schools are about 10-15 minute by bus from our apartment.

The school we saw today is called, Plunkett Street Primary School.  The grounds were amazing!  A huge lawn with a great playground, a quaint building and CHICKENS! Yes, they have a chicken coop right on their playground. This is apparently new this year. Cooper was so excited. He loves the chickens at his friend Helena's house so this was a wonderful surprise.  We spent the time there talking with the principal (who was super nice) and learning about the school. It is pretty small. Only about 70 kids in PreK-Year 6.  All the classes are mixed aged except preschool. So they have a Kindergarten/1/2 class, a 3/4 class and a 5/6  class. That may change next year depending on enrollment. The classrooms were amazing. They were filled with children's artwork and school work, tons of learning areas and very, very busy and happy students. The teachers were all very friendly and they smiled and greeted us- very different from all the other places we have visited here. So, overall, I really liked the school and the principal.  As I said to Doug, if I had to drop Cooper off tomorrow, I would feel good about it.  So, I will visit Darlinghurst-- hopefully, and then we will make a decision. I guess we need to be pretty quick about it as the classes fill up and since we are on visas, we are somewhat dispensable.

We had not been to Wooloomooroo before, so I wanted to explore a bit. When walking from the bus to the school we went through a questionable area, but as we left the school and headed the other direction, we came across the wharf and this view. Apparently, Russell Crowe has a 14 million dollar penthouse here.

We stopped at this place called Harry's Cafe de Wheels where they are famous for "pies n' peas." The kids had hot dogs and I had, of all things, mashed potatoes and gravy- anyone who really knows me knows that I am not a huge fan of mashed potatoes so I am not really sure why I ordered them.  They were good though!  I guess this is a pretty famous place for celebrities to visit. Brooke Shields, Elton John, Frank Sinatra, Colonel Sanders  and of course, my favourite, Olivia Newton-John (among others) all ate there at one time or another. After we finished our food, it was back on the bus and back home.

Harry's Cafe de Wheels