Copulating Snakes

Our country school has water views.
It is near the willow-choked river.
This proximity has challenged the teachers of old,
Who must cross a ford to gain access.
Floods trapping them on either side.
A well stocked freezer and a comfortable stretcher bed,
Are testament to the frequency of this occurrence.

Animals are attracted to the river.
On hot summer days the legless, cold blooded variety are particularly enamoured.
In the old days (not so long ago,)
The Snake spade was kept by the front door.
Students made the treacherous journey to the toilets in pairs.
The student requiring the facilities,
And 'The Snake Killer' wielding the spade.

Mostly this was the bigger country boys,
Who already knew how to drive a 'paddock-basher' and shoot a with a 'twenty two'.
Mostly, but not always.
Some girls were taught by their equally daring mothers,
How to 'crack' a snake with their bare hands.

But we are living in more civilised, politically correct and litigious times.
Gone is the snake spade.
Instead in its place,
The ridiculous, misguided and downright stupid reactions.
Of what can only be described as  'not country people'.

Today there were two snakes 'making whoopee' in the school grounds.
The students were fascinated by an act of reproduction being performed,
Before their very eyes.
The reaction of the matron who had seen it all was priceless.
(With a sly smile), she got the nervous principal.
The teacher was adamant the children should be sent home immediately.
It was decided at last that the children should be locked in.
It was then that the 'country teachers' chimed in,
That snakes had frequently found their way into the classroom,
By various gaps near the water heater.
The spade was procured.
Just in case.


   

Ants in their pants

They have:
Ants in their pants.
A fascination with the contents of their nose.
A strong desire to pull a loose thread from the t shirt nearest then.
An uncontrollable urge to scratch off, the scab on their knee,
And eat it.
To put the corner of their worksheet into their mouth,
And chew off tiny pieces like a mouse.
To suck their sock.
To rock back.
To rock forwards,
And back again.
To chew their sleeve, shoelace,
The end of their pencil,
And their own hair.
To roll around the floor,
Or flip periodically onto their tummies.
An innate desire to fiddle,
With something(whatever's in reach.)

They are children of six or seven.
Bless them.

Cross - Country Carnival

All the schools will meet,

Tomorrow at the Country Club.

Voted the best of the districts venues,

The well manicured lawn of fairways and green,

Will meet the small 'joggered' feet of eight to twelve year olds.

Some will run, and run their hearts out. 

Some will walk and chat animatedly,

Some will do a combination of the two.

There will be the victorious,

The disappointed and the disinterested.

And that is just the spectating parents.

Lunches of hot dogs, sausage sandwiches,

And bacon and egg rolls will be consumed.

Washed down with 'poppers',

Or proper coffee from the van.

The day will culminate in the ball games.

Spindly legs attempt to straddle the Tunnel ball.

Small skulls cope with their interaction with a dropped Captain ball.

Trophies dispensed, the athletes retire to the busses,

To return to their respective towns.

Cross-country Carnival over for another year.

Small Country Schools

We are more like big families.
With our solidarity and our feuds.
We have our cliques, big fish in small ponds,
Sibling rivalry, jealousy, pettiness,
And the school gate mafia.
And sometimes everyone is just....
Too close.
The teachers know just.....
Too much.
Unpaid social workers.
More time counselling than teaching.
Yet in a small school,
They can cut through the process time.
And each child is taught as an individual.
Teachers know them almost as their own children.
In these small towns,
Country schools are the establishment, the authority.
We are the community.
Kill us off or let us die,
And there goes your community.  

Student Free Day

Today was a student free day.
Student free, but not of course teacher free.
Conversation less restrained.
No packed lunch.
Holiday stories exchanged.
Timetables adjusted and curriculum planned.
Enrolments speculated.
Managing recalcitrant and demanding parents?
Strategies discussed.
Lessons and excursions organised.
Resources located.
Post opened.
Classrooms readied
And in your minds eye,
As you are driving home,
You see them before you,
With eager faces and new uniforms,
Your students.