murraes graduation

well this week has seen us reach another milestone with our children. murrae has now finished primary school and is off to the 'big' school after the holidays. they have graduation ceremonies here. off we went on wednesday to the school hall for a graduation dinner. we thought it would be food, presentation of the graduation certificates and then off. no, we were there for 3 and half hours. the meal was good tho considering we were in the school hall and the year 7's of last year served us at our tables. the head boy and girl did most of the compering and some of the kids took us through the history of this years year 7's school life. after dessert murrae was called upon to do a little speech, or so we thought!!!! here is what he had to say.

' in july 2006 i arrived in australia from aberdeen. i enrolled at doubleview primary and joined the year 7 class. i was so nervous i felt sick, but all i had to do was talk and everyone thought my accent was cool, so i was reassured and felt welcome.

when i first entered the class i say one table and about ten others around it and i was sitting the middle with james allan, a fellow brit. he was the first boy i met and he has the same likes as i do. the other classmates were equally great. when i met the teacher she was really nice to me. this school is so different from what i'd know, for example, this school has computers that work, my old one doesnt. this school has two huge ovals and my old school only had one. we have had some awesome excursions and incursions here.

coming to australia has been the greatest decision i made. back home i would be in torment going to high school but not here and without these special friends i'd be nowhere. i want to say a special thanks to my parents for giving me this chance. i want to thank you all for your wonderful listening and i hope you have a great night.'

there wasnt a dry eye in the house!!! and there was lots of cheering and clapping as he left the podium. my little boy is really popular and not with just the kids!!! the previous principle of the school was there too and he and murrae have never met but he came over and shook murraes hand and told him that he gave a great speech and well done! i dont think i have ever felt so proud of him as i did then!!

on friday afternoon while they were all supposed to be in school!! they were actually at one of the girls houses having a pool party, the teacher was even there!! when i went to pick him up i was met by 5 girls wailing please dont take murrae away!!! the kids were all really upset that this was the end of an era!! most of them had been together for 7 years and the newer ones had been accepted into their class well. i eventually managed to drag him away at 6pm!!! it was supposed to finish at 3pm!!

i have been questioning whether we'd done the right thing by the kids dragging them half way across the world but this answered my questions. we got his report card the same night and just after he started they had to do some state wide testing, i was really surprised. murrae is well above average, he exceeds the benchmark for the state and is up there with the kids who are going to high schools as part of the 'gifted and talented' scholarships!!! he has really benefited from the extra time at primary school. hope you enjoy the pics of him in his kilt, we hired it from a place in perth and it only cost $50, thats about £20!! and we got it from wednesday to saturday!!