Ansó, 8 September
by Isabel Isherwood - 07:27 on 08 September 2016
First day of school…..
The school is small, very similar in size to Lochaline. Iona’s class has seven children, but five of these are girls which she is delighted about. Rowan’s class has eleven, again with plenty of girls, so hopefully once the language becomes less of a barrier they will both make friends.
We have met (and liked) two of the teachers – Jose the headteacher, who takes the nursery class, and Arancha who teaches the older children: years 5 and 6 – equivalent to P6 and P7 in Scotland – plus the first two years of secondary, who stay on here because high school in Jaca (50 minutes away) is considered too far for them to travel. Rowan’s class (years 1-4 –equivalent to P2-5) still has no teacher; last year’s teacher is on maternity leave and because of some mix-up nobody new has been assigned yet…. So today Rowan has a substitute teacher. I spent the first hour in school with her to help her settle in, then she bravely sent me home. But she came home in tears saying it was too hard and I had to stay all day next time. Iona came home very happy, having taken to Laura, a girl in the year above her; she is confident and excited about the challenges whereas poor Rowan just feels overwhelmed by it all. She will do better when the new teacher arrives and a recognisable routine develops so she has more idea what to expect.
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