EISD…I know, I hated that phrase so much when I was getting ready to move to Japan. But it really is true. Nobody can give you a magical answer, as much as we wish they could. So here is my experience with elementary school enrollment.
C will start first grade this April in Japan. So, a few months after we moved in, we had to go to the city hall to fill out a registration form. Someone in this department spoke some English, so all in all, very easy to do on my own. I went on a Tuesday evening since the city hall stays open till 7 on Tuesdays in my city.
You will get a postcard in the mail telling you which local school your child will attend. It will be all in Japanese, except my child’s name was printed in Romanji, so after a little help translating I understood where he would go to school. I was told to take the card to the elementary school, so I took it to the elementary school, but I’m not really sure I was supposed to because nothing happened after that. They just nodded and said okay, said hi to C and we were on our way – so I’m still not sure if I was supposed to take it to the school or not…
1st meeting - You will get another postcard notifying you of the introductory meeting/health check. Most all elementary school meetings are held during working hours…I know, it sucks…but しょうがない (it can’t be helped)…because this is Japan where (generally) mothers don’t work. It’s very difficult to be a full-time working mother in Japan. Anyway…back on topic…the intro meeting lasts about 3 hours. The kids go off with the elementary school kids and teachers for a health-check (I warned C that this was going to happen so he wouldn’t get scared) but it’s not a big deal if your child wants you to go with, several of the Japanese kids wouldn’t go without their mothers…and unless you speak Japnese, you won’t understand most of the parent lecture anyways. I didn’t, I sat and listened, looked at the papers the other parents were looking at and didn’t understand most of what was going on. ;) fun times. There was a pause at the end of the presentation and many of the mothers ran (literally ran!) to a table set up on the side of the room and the nice lady behind the table was handing out packets of forms to fill out. I sat confused for a moment before I realized they were probably signing up for after-school care…then I semi-panicked and ran over to the table too. She gave me a packet and after it was clear I had no idea what was going on, she called a teacher over who spoke English and I was able to sign up for the after-school care program. The thing about it is, it’s done based on need, similar to hoikuen. So for me, I was at the top of the list because there is nobody else to care for my son…however, depending on your situation, you may or may not get a spot in the after-school care program. Unfortunately there is a huge deficit of child-care in Japan right now.
Meeting 2 – this was for the after-school care program (thank goodness it was on a Saturday!). I went with C and with the help of my limited Japanese, the program teachers limited English and translations on smart phones, we managed pretty well. I got a big packet of papers - I don’t know what it is exactly…
Meeting 3 – My JTE tells me that the after-school program teacher has called her and asked that we attend another meeting together with all the parents. Yet another information session, I’m not sure why it couldn’t have been all rolled into one…but it’s not… So, this one is on a Saturday as well, the after-school program is good about scheduling meetings outside of working hours at least. However it happens to be Graduation day at my base school...anyway we work out another day to meet. I felt bad that my JTE had to give up part of her Saturday to help me, but I didn’t have much of a choice. Basically this meeting was covering the rules, costs and supplies C would need for the after-school care. This meeting took 3 hours and then there was coffee/tea and snack afterwards. It was a nice gesture of hospitality, so please don’t get me wrong when I say….why did it have to take 3 hours?? I don’t know! It could have easily been done in an hour in my opinion…
Meeting 4 – This is another elementary school meeting where you order school supplies, uniforms, etc…You will get an order form in the mail. This meeting is during the week and lasts 3-4 hours. Depending on your school you may or may not have uniforms (most elementary schools in Japan do not), C’s does. So – there are 2 copies of each order form, I thought one was for my use, one to turn in, so I translated and wrote all over one copy, but…apparently not, the school needs both. oops!. You need to fill out both copies and then the school will make another copy. ?? I don’t know why so many copies are needed. C’s elementary school actually had a translator from the local BOE come out to help me for this meeting which was amazingly thoughtful of them. The kids went off and explored the school, sat in a classroom for a bit while the parents were told about the school supplies (the ones not listed on the order forms) that each child would need. Let me tell you – they are extensive!!! I’ve got a running excel documents of school expenses that I will upload once I have completed school supply shopping. There will also be vendors there from the uniform companies with samples so your kid can try on the Jackets, hats, shorts, gym uniform, etc…and you can order the right size Aside from the uniform itself, pretty much everything else can be found at a local store…I’ve notated this on that excel file I mentioned. The biggest thing I need to mention here is ORDER THE PRE-PRINTED NAME STICKERS!!! Everything – down to every little counting chip and dice in the math set (which has probably 200 pcs) – has to have your child’s name on it. EVERYTHING!! Each crayon, the box lid and base, Every pencil, eraser…etc…it’s pretty intense. You do not want to have to write your child’s name that many times, on teeny tiny little stickers. There will be certain things you must order from the school – for example, the uniform and that math set I mentioned above. But check Amazon or your local store for the other stuff, I’ve found it’s usually cheaper. A lot of the small things can be purchased at the ¥100 store. I did not have to pay for the ordered school supplies at this point in time. This was also the meeting where I met another parent who speaks English fluently and she offered to help me out if I had any questions! Hurray! She even asked the principle if her child and mine could be in the same class. Double hurray!!!
Meeting 5 – ** Update - yes, this took about 10 minutes and it was just pay and pickup the items we had ordered.
This meeting is next week – so I will update this post after I have attended it, but I have been told it is a ‘shopping day’ from 3-4 pm. From what I understand this is the day that we pay and pick up all the things we ordered from meeting 4. This is also during the week – but luckily, it happens to be a test day at my school, so I have been told that if I come in an hour early it won’t be a problem to leave an hour early. My nenkyuu is in short supply, and what I do have left is needed for C’s entrance ceremony and graduation from daycare ceremony.
****NOTE: I have been told by a Japanese mother that I need a white suit for the elementary entrance ceremony (only 1st grade mom’s need a white suit) – I found one at the department store but it was ¥10,200 yen!! (three pieces; cropped jacket, white skirt, black dress). Surprisingly it’s very cute, but expensive for a suit I will have little occasion to wear again. I expected the suit, because it’s a formal occasion, but I did not know it had to be white…so consider yourself forewarned!! You will see a whole section of white suits in the department stores starting in February or so. They will probably not be for sale after mid-march, so it is best to get one while you can…also they come in a limited number of sizes on the rack, so you may have to shop around a bit depending on your body type.
The children (if they have uniforms) wear their uniforms for the entrance ceremony – however, if your school does not have uniforms, the child is expected to wear a suit, or formal dress - so I’ve been told. Please be sure to ask someone what the appropriate dress code is, because it is likely that nobody will think to mention it since it is common cultural knowledge to the Japanese. Another unexpected expense…
I was very upset to see that most parents were just wearing their black or grey suits....I suggest using the 'gaijin card' in situation such as these because I wasn't happy when I saw that not everyone was in a white suit (like I was told they would be)...however I suppose the silver lining is that I have used the suit more than once for entrance ceremony, photos at school, open school day, and some other days where the dress/jacket was very appropriate...so not a complete waste of money.
**I found it easier to print my own name stickers for all the things C needs at school. First of all, C's name was misspelled on the ones we had ordered, but also, there weren't enough for all the things we had to label. So I printed my own and was able to make lots more stickers. I even added Pokemon because I could and C loves Pokemon! I will try to share the file if I can figure out a way.
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