Starting School (Christopher Edition)

Christopher started school yesterday, at Ellington Primary. (They don't appear to have a website, or I'd link it!) It's a small "council" school (what Americans would call a "public school"), with about 200 students (about the size of Trinity in Kissimmee). It's only about 5min walk from our house, so Chris should be able to make the daily trek by himself with no problem.

Like many English schools, Ellington is arranged into "Houses". Like many Americans, I had assumed that the Houses in J.K. Rowling's Hogwarts were just another fictional convention, like the moving staircases and talking pictures; or at least some artifact drawn out of boarding-school history, like the castle itself and suits of armor adorning its halls.

Not so! Apparently the concept of "Houses" is a very common one in English schools, even in otherwise perfectly unremarkable primary institutions like Ellington. Like Hogwarts, Ellington is divided into four houses, each with an animal mascot and themed colors.

Christopher elected to join Falcon (blue), with the announcement that "Kite, Kestrel, and Eagle are going DOWN!" He was disappointed that, on his first day, his House didn't win any team points, a matter of some urgency as apparently Eagle has amounted a rather strong lead. No worries -- they have a whole term to earn back that ground :-)