Elementary school in Japan begins in first grade. Children begin in the year they turn age 6 before April 1st (i.e. if you child turns 6 before April 1st, they go to school that year). Foreign children are not required to attend school, however, if you are a resident, in many (most?) places public school is free. There are many fees though related to different items, experiences, and school happenings.
Part I – The fall before…
In some places, if you are registered residents of your town, in the fall before your child should begin school, you will receive an announcement in the mail. This is, in most cases, in Japanese, with a few exceptions. The announcement tells you the procedure for registering your child for school or tells the school where your child will be attending. You will likely (possibly?) have to fill a portion of this paper out and then deliver it to the school. In one example, the paper arrived in the end of October and was due the first week in November. It will vary by area.
Each school will likely have similar yet varying procedures. There will likely be a short meeting when you bring back the registration paper in which you get more paperwork to fill out. There will likely be several during the day events that you will have to take time off for to take your child to. One event is likely to be a health check. One person describes the health check event below,
“At my son’s new school, we all were to arrive at the school by 2pm on a certain Thursday in November. I took a half day off work. All of the parents were to wait in one room while 5th grade students guided the children around. Since I had already been by the school to drop off paperwork, when the teachers saw me, they smiled and waved me over. In English they asked if I wanted to go with my son as he was escorted to the different health checks since he was not yet speaking very much Japanese. I thanked them very much and went with him. I didn’t want to spoil his experience so I just shadowed as he was taken by the hand by a 5th grade student and guided out into the school. The 5th grade student carried around my son’s paperwork that I had filled in with his information with the help of my friend before I came. The first stop was an eye and ear check. The doctor did the whole “shine the light in the eyes” routine and checked his eyes, then another doctor checked ears. Then they signed off on the paper and we went on. Next was a wait, during which the 5th grade student sat with him and read a story. Then we went into a room with three desks in a row. Two teachers sat on the far side and they sat my son and two other incoming students across from them. I lingered in the back of the room, not wanting to interrupt, but waiting just in case. I wasn’t needed, as they were lovely and asked my son all the questions in English. They asked him simple questions like, “In the summer it is hot, in the winter it is “… “Cold!” he shouted happily. I think they were just casually testing his ability and social skills. After several more questions, they smiled and the 5th grade student came back and took my son to a hearing test. He didn’t understand the commands, so this time I did have to step up and explain. Next was a vision test (look at the circles and identify where the opening is in the circle, etc.). After this, the 5th grade student brought us back to the waiting room. We waited for a bit, then I we were called up to see one last doctor (I was, at this point, amazed by how many doctors were here at the school for this event and, yes, they were all doctors) who listened to his breathing (I was also glad that I was supposed to be in the room for this check and was glad to see how they had set the whole event up). Then I was given a paper saying he was great, we had passed all the health checks, and was told “Thank you” and “See you in February for the next meeting.”
After the initial meeting for the health check in the fall, there will likely be an orientation meeting in February or March when they explain procedures, uniforms, requirements, walking routes, etc.
… more later
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