Jeremy
has just completed Year 1. He has had enjoyed
a lot of things, with the highlight probably being an excursion to Rippon Lea,
an old mansion. He is building up a large collection of soft toys, which makes
his bed look like a zoo! He really enjoyed dressing up and singing at the
Tattoo and some other concerts, but if he wants to keep the songs secret from
the rest of the family, he will have to learn to stop singing them around the
house …
Emily
has just completed Year 3. She has often
being found doing her homework well before it is due (with occasional lapses!),
and enjoyed a lot of her studies this year. She has continued with her dancing
and added a singing group this year as well, which meant that on one of the
performance nights, she had to sprint from one end of the school to the other
to appear in both items. She must have run faster at some point in her life,
but we don’t know when!
Timothy
has just finished Year 5, which is his
first year in a class for boys only (which will continue to Year 12). He took
up Japanese this year, and did very well at it. This means that he has a
fighting chance of understanding the stream of near gibberish that his elder
brother comes out with. He also started playing school sport, with tennis,
football, soccer and athletics. He took a great deal of delight in knowing that
his shoe size is now the same as his father’s, which may explain why he drives
around the local go-kart track with the speed and expertise of a Grand Prix
driver!
Joshua has just started
Year 11, having completed Year 10 a few weeks ago. He joined the Pipes and
Drums band this year, which won the
Victorian School championships this year for the 25th year in a row.
This meant quite a busy year at concerts, assemblies, speech nights, and other
events, which has meant quite a few occasions in a kilt. Despite all this, he
has kept his academic progress, and hopes to go on the school trip to Japan
next year. Our ‘Big Drummer Boy’ (now taller than his father) has continued
playing basketball, where he is no longer one of the shortest on the court.
Linda has had another busy year at work, although she was
very pleased to finally hand over responsibility for timetabling the largest
school in the southern hemisphere to someone else in November. This means far
less weekends spent over a computer, and hence a lot more free time.
James has
done his share of travel (again!), but has managed to hand over the Vietnam and
Malaysian activities to others, so that will mean more lectures and exam
marking next year. Looks like ‘back to the classroom’ could be a theme next
year …
With best wishes
from all of us for a refreshing Christmas and a prosperous New Year,
James, Linda,
Joshua, Timothy, Emily & Jeremy Harland