Darwish's schooling experience

As requested by Ms Yana, here is a (hopefully) short story of Darwish's experience in his new school in Coventry, England so far.

So on the 23rd of November, after about 53 days of absolute boredom at home for Darwish, he started schooling in one of the state-run schools in Coventry.

We applied for a different school nearest to home, but that school was fully booked for the Reception class that Darwish has to be in. So we got our second choice, the second nearest, which is 10 minutes drive away. 

Not too bad, but the thought that his school could have ideally just been a 5-minute walk journey from home bugs me at times. I'm still considering changing his school soon, but we'll see how our luck is. Here, they are really strict about class size. So it's not that easy. 

The different school year groups are:

1) Nursery- 3 years old (turned 3 before the September term that year). Free for only 3 hours per day. 

2) Reception - 4 years old (turned 4 before the September term that year)

3) Year 1 - 5 years old (turned 5 before the September term that year)

4) Year 2 - and so on... "

5) Year 3 - "

6) Year 4 - "

7) Year 5 - "

8) Year 6 - "

That's why Darwish is in the Reception class although he is already 5 years old, as he was born in October. But I'm okay with that since I think it's better that he learns more basic stuff first and play more. ;)

And that's why Harith is not eligible for anything at the school yet as he was only 2+ years old by September last year. Grrr...

The school, from Reception to Year 6, is totally free of charge for 6 hours per day. So far we only had to pay for the red sweater school uniform and his school bag. That's it. The pants and inner white polo shirts can be bought at Tesco at cheaper prices. 

That's the nice thing about schools in the UK. For nursery, you will only need to pay for anything more than 3 hours per day...and it's extremely expensive!

The lunch and snacks are free too for Reception up to Year 3 classes. Menu is given weeks earlier and parents can choose exactly what their kids eat every day. Fruit, water and yogurt are always available throughout the 6 hours. 

His school is Okaaayyy.. Nothing to shout about. Very multiracial. It's located in Canley, an area which is near to the university but  notorious for some naughty kids, low-income families and a range of immigrants (including us Malaysians of course. Yes, we are the Banglas!). It put me off a bit actually at first, coz I was worried about his safety and all but so far so good. 

The safety at school is well taken care of and the range of ethnicities in the school could be an advantage really.  All parents for all levels MUST send their kids in front of their respective classes every morning. Not at the main gate.That is at 8.45am sharp. And the kids must be fetched at the same place at 3.15pm. So 6 hours of class time. 

-Darwish on first day of school-

He has White, Black, Arab, Malaysian and other Asian classmates. and a number of Muslims too. so I feel quite at ease about this. We don't feel like the only foreign entities here. huhu... The school library even has this book:     :D

The daily school routine is:

1. Wait at the classroom door at 8.45 am until the teacher calls in. 

2. Allow the kids in...and the kids will go to their assigned area to hang their coats and place their school bags. 

3. Attendance will then be taken. 

4. Classes will start. God knows what they are studying coz parents can't stalk their kids. 

5. Wait at the door at 3.15pm 

6. Teacher will open the door and parents can state the name of their children and only then the kids will be allowed to leave the classroom. 

So safety issues, insya Allah, ok. 

This is how much they place great importance on attendance and lateness. Every second counts. 

Every Tuesday, all kids get to choose the books they love from the library to borrow for a week, to be read at home together with parents. This is the book Darwish chose for this week. I think this is our influence.. of watching too much MasterChef at home. hrmmph...huhu.. 

Last December, the mood for Christmas was all over the school. Although Christmas is supposed to be a religious celebration, but what I notice is that it has become a cultural phenomenon too. Darwish's teachers and friends are well aware that he is a Muslim but he still got a lot of X'mas cards from them! He even made one. The one in green on the left, in the pic below!

There was also a X'mas celebration 2 weeks before X'mas. Parents were also requested to bring sweets and chocolate for the kids. We went with the flow as long as the event was not something clearly religious that may confuse him. We don't want to be too restrictive to the point that he's missing the fun with his friends. That's important for his social skills and confidence too, I think. So far, we only didn't give permission for him to attend an event at the church. The school respects students' different backgrounds and beliefs. Consent forms have always been given days earlier..prior to any additional events in/outside school.

 -Darwish became a sheep at the Chrismas celebration. All other kids' faces must not be revealed on social media without the parents' consent. It's UK schools' policy-

Oh one thing I forgot to comment on was Darwish's language skills. Back in Malaysia, he only had  roughly 20-30% of English. In school, he used mainly Malay and at home, there's a crazy mix of Malay and English with some Kedah's slang. hihi... He started to really speak at 4 years old after entering Dzul Iman kindergarten near to my house in Seksyen 9, Shah Alam. I guess the environmental pressure finally pushed him to speak. Alhamdulillah. 

So here in Coventry school, I had to tell the teacher about all this. That he used to have a speech delay and that he only spoke around 30% of English. He seemed to be fine. No complaints about language upon returning home. I only taught him essential phrases such as "Teacher, may I go to the toilet, please?" But there are 2 other Malaysian kids in the class, one of which told her mother that Darwish had been talking to the teacher in Malay in the first few weeks!!! What to do, I guess the teacher had to guess from context what Darwish meant. 

But I think things are better now. He has not drastically grasped the English language skills like what many other parents "warned" me about. It has been 1.5 months since he started schooling, but at home, he still uses Malay language a lot. I can see his English is improving, for now I think it's 50-50 and he's unintentionally teaching his younger brother too! But to be honest, I'm not that keen to push him too much in that aspect. My plan is to just speak more Malay at home with my children since he's exposed to 100% English at school. My idealistic hope is that he gets to slowly improve his English and still retain his Malay language as his mother tongue. It's not that we are going to live here forever! Just 3 years, insya Allah. I hope it works! 

I have to look beyond these years, equipping him with excellent and a strong foundation in  English language skills that will (hopefully) help him in future academic and life endeavours whilst not forgetting his roots. So that he can be equally good in Malay and English, and survive in Malaysia too, academically and socially. I guess I'm not one of those moms who is too obsessed in pushing her children to acquire native-like English language mastery to the point of neglecting the mother tongue, although I'm an English language teacher myself. ihiks. I survived learning English through TV cartoons, books, and schools with 100% Malay communication at home, and he will too. But I sure am glad that my study years here would give him the additional advantage, in terms of learning English from the English people, I hope. Aminnn.

All is well. All seems fine and fun. But what is 'interesting' and depressing is that Darwish still prefers his old humble Islamic kindy. He still mentions his Ustazah's and friends' names every now and then. 

I always asked what he did in school here, and he said everything was fine and fun with lotsa plays.

But when asked about preferences, skolah sini ke skolah kat Malaysia, rumah UK ke rumah Malaysia, he would always unhesitatingly choose the ones in Malaysia.

It saddens me that after 3 month he's still homesick. and the truth is, I am too.