Editorial: Ring the bell for the start of the school year

Hands up who's ready for school. File photo / Wavebreak Media

EDITORIAL

Many New Zealand households will spend a portion of this weekend digging in wardrobes for schoolbags - or shopping for new ones - in preparation for the school year to start this week.

For returning students, lunchboxes will be recovered from the back of kitchen cupboards; stationery lists checked; uniforms or school-appropriate clothes pressed back into duty; hair scrutinised for length; feet measured to ensure they haven't outgrown sandals while running bare and carefree on the grass and beaches.

For the new entrants, transport or drop-off and pick-up plans will be carefully explained and reassurances given that they'll make friends soon enough and the teachers won't be at all scary.

Over coming weeks there will probably be debate on whether the height of summer is the right time to muster our youngest citizens into stuffy classrooms. Many parents, however, will be tacitly pleased to have the kids out of the house and back into "useful" pursuits.

A plea to all motorists: please take care on the roads - especially around schools - in the coming days as children negotiate new or renewed journeys. Many kids are unaware they are invisible to drivers until suddenly ducking out from between vehicles.

And to all our readers and their families: good luck with the school year ahead.