Husband has started working weekends. Blah. So I’m touring the fetes and fairs of Sydney to amuse the Sprogs in his craft-obsessed absence. Yesterday we visited a Steiner school fair, which involved lots of hippie clothing stalls, earnest entertainment for the kids and a healthy dose of school envy for me.
It’s not that I want the Sprogs to attend a Steiner school. I’m perfectly happy with the (almost) free education they’re getting at our local public school. I just wish they had the Steiner school’s grounds, filled with veggie patches, a huge chook pen (complete with baby chicks!), organic-looking play equipment and GRASS …
The predominant surface at the Sprogs’ school is bitumen. The occasional patches of grass are synthetic. OK, there’s a tiny veggie patch – we’ve even scored the occasional zip-lock of herbs from it – but there’s definitely no chook coop.
I started feeling very cross with the Department of Education yesterday, which in its infinite lack of foresight and wisdom sold a whole swag of schools to organisations such Steiner. As a result, there are eight kindy classes at our school. EIGHT. And what should be our local public school has tie-dyed curtains in the windows and $3000-per-term tuition fees.
I mooched around the playground imagining how delightful it would be if the Sprogs could spend every lunchtime exploring something so lovely.
But it was impossible to sulk for long. Because that Steiner crowd put on a damn good fair. There was everything from a “dig-for-gemstones” tent, a “decorate-your-own-silkworm-box-and-adopt-six- squirming-inhabitants” stand, a coconut toss and Mr Pockets, a (clad) flasher wearing a cape with endless pockets sewn into it, each containing delightfully worthy gifts such as plant-your-own sunflower seeds.
Dinky, but we had a ball.
Well, Sprog 1 fell over a wooden boat thingy in the playground and grazed her hip, then fell off a Jacob’s ladder climbing challenge thing and grazed the other hip, but that’s pretty standard. It wouldn’t be a weekend without Sprog 1 losing skin and gaining bruises somewhere.
housegoeshome 
Sounds lovely. My youngest is also at a very crowded public primary school in Sydney. Playground space was reduced even further with the new BER-funding library. Hardly anywhere to run around.
I know, it’s a bugger. The kids have a roster at our school for when they can play on the equipment. And school sport is a joke.
Not sure how they organise the 700 kids on our small area of play equipment. They did have a whole K-2 only adventure playground where the new library now is.