[Welshgirl]

Well said Dawn :) Had my mum not wrapped me up in cotton wool for so long, I'm sure I would have done ALL of those things (not just some :-[). We were only commenting yesterday that, whilst the pupils at our daughters school are very lucky to have umpteen play areas (complete with climbing frame, banana slide and sand-pits), a swimming pool and tennis courts, for the most part, we did not have such luxuries when we were in school - probably because the schools/government did not want to take the risk of being sued, should an injury occur. When the aforementioned banana slide was installed in the school last year, about 5 or 6 children promptly fell off and broke their arms in the space of a few weeks - and not one Kiwi parent threatened, or even thought about, suing the school: it was part of growing up.

On the subject of teaching to individual skill levels - I certainly hope this is the case! Our 6 year old daughter is now in Year 3, but some of her classmates are aged 8 & 9!! Don't ask me how or why, even some of the Kiwi parents can't work it out, but I would not expect our daughter to work at the same level as them. In fact, we've been informed that, in this year, they are expected to gain a higher level of independence (e.g. we are not to go in to the class and tidy out their desks for them ::)) so I guess being with a bunch of older kids will help them in this quest! Learning styles and abilities to some extent, in any case, are different no matter what the childs age.

Anyway, looking forward to meeting (and taking on!) Team Dawn ;)