The eldest is angling to change high schools again. My ex was a bit lairy about it, but we went to an open day at the new school last night and he was hooked.
It’s just for year 11 and 12, with a strong focus on the creative and visual arts, which is part of the appeal for the eldest … coupled with the fact they knew half the kids at the open day, which is pretty remarkable considering the campus attracts students from more than 100 schools across Sydney.
The funniest encounter was with a teen who looked like the eldest’s twin: same red hair, same short haircut, same high pants rolled at the ankle, both in black T-shirts, same studded belt, same wallet chain, both in Doc Marten boots.
I thought it was hilarious – every time I saw the other kid I’d stifle a giggle. We had a brief chat with the parents of the teen on our way out – as the two redheads hugged goodbye – and the dad wryly said: “Yeah, I said to my wife ‘I thought there wasn’t a uniform at this school’.”
But it seems teenage tribes have their own informal uniforms!
I found the open day a bit challenging because I was coming down with a cold. You know when you’re all sneezy and sniffly and woozy?
So this blog post is going to be a shorty for a change because I’m a bit zonked.
I definitely didn’t have it in me to fill out the 300 million pages the application form required. But the eldest is mad keen to get it back to the school office before Easter to increase the chances of being accepted, so I’d better get cracking today.
Looking at the subject choices on the forms swept me back in time. I remember originally signing myself up for chemistry and physics because I wanted to be a compounding pharmacist … then totally freaking out about my complete lack of affinity with science and deciding I’d rather be the editor of Dolly magazine.
So I ended up doing 3-unit English, 3-unit ancient history, 3-unit art, 2-unit modern history and 2-unit maths … with maths not even being counted in my final mark … about as far away from pharmacy as you can get!
Can you remember what you studied for the HSC? In some ways it feels like it was yesterday .. or maybe that’s the delirium talking …
OK, I’m over and out. Geez my back hurts.
Catch you tomorrow.
Song of the day: Thompson Twins “Hold me now”
housegoeshome 
Those are exactly the same subjects I took. So much history. I failed art. No one fails art.
How funny! Well, not the failing art bit. The rest of the art class HATED me because I was completely lacking in talent but beat them all because I could write a killer essay.
Goodness, I’m so old that it was called Matriculation in my day (this is in South Australia). I took English, Latin, Maths 1S, Physics, Chemistry. Then went on to study Law of all things. What was I thinking?
I hope it all goes well for your eldest. My eldest is also a very creative soul. I kind of insisted that she stay and complete year 12, but her heart was never in academic study and she now happily owns and runs two successful hairdressing salons in Sydney. She still colours her hair a different colour every week and sports a lot of body art (not my cup of tea, I’m afraid), but she is really happy so that’s what counts.
It definitely is what counts!