On Monday, students at Margaret Manson Elementary School in Kirkland, Que., went back to school. There were smiles, some tears and lots of excitement. “Today’s a big day. Our classrooms are ready. We’re ready. And we’re excited to welcome everybody back to school,” said kindergarten teacher France Xenopoulos. As families were bringing their students into the schoolyard, parents certainly seemed ready for summer to be over. “Back to routine. Back to them studying. Back to normality for us will work. So it’s good for us. We’re very excited,” said parent Rami Arida. Most of the students also said they were ready for the return to class. “I just came back from playing video games every day to literally doing this,” said Jaden. Victoria, who is in Grade 6, said, “I have great friends and great teachers, and I find the school pretty cool.” Henry is going into Grade 4 and is new to Margaret Manson. “At my old school, it was humongous. So, thousands of kids. But now there’s less kids, so less crazy.” It’s also the first year for Principal Amber Coones, who said in-class learning is much more than just classwork. “There’s something to be said about the social interactions that happen at school. It’s really important. And I think that when kids get back to school, they see how important it is too, and a lot of the socialization that happens in the classroom takes their attention back to school.” Like it or not, the teachers here are eager to lead their classes in all subjects. Blake Eaton is an artist and performer who is also the music teacher at Margaret Manson. “Music gives them a creative outlet. Music gives them a richer worldview. Compassion. We teach life through music.” Lester B. Pearson School Board Director General Cindy Finn hopes to teach campaigning politicians a lesson too. “We just want all of the politicians out there to understand the importance of public education and that we need the funding to do the things we want to do for students.”
