We have a school!

Jonathan has been accepted into the French bi-national program that he was interested in attending! So next January, he will be starting school here:

It's a little further out from the city center than our last school in Melbourne. This is what the city looks like from the street the school is on:

You can see the city skyline off in the distance between the telephone poles.

We took a school tour today and met the principal. The teachers, principal, assistant principal, have all been very helpful and very accommodating. They threw in some placement tests for Jonathan today to help him find the right level of maths and English when he arrives. While Jonathan took the tests, they answered all our questions and directed us to further information on the Australian school system. It sounds like Jonathan will have a lot of great options.

The French bi-national program runs through year 9 (9th grade). After that, he works on his VCE: Victorian Certificate of Education. He has to choose some number of subjects to master, I think between four and six? After two or so years of study, he takes a test on the subject -- it sounds like an AP test in the US. His scores help to determine university placement, etc.

I'll write more when I understand the system a little better -- maybe in three years? In any case, before, I was a little worried that Jonathan might not be able to take the mathematics he would have taken on his honors track in the US (calculus in high school). But it looks like he will still have the option to take as much math as would make me happy -- calculus and more -- even here in Australia, and even while learning half of his subjects (including math) in French for the next three years.

I think he's going to have a very nice education. And even better, I think he is going to really enjoy it. He chose the French program on his own. Proud of him.