GALLERY: All smiles as kindergarten starts

Forbes North Public School were the first to welcome their new kindergarten students who started school last Thursday, while St Laurence’s Parish School kindies began yesterday and Forbes Public will greet their kindergarteners today.

This year overall kindergarten enrollments are slightly down with 36 kindergarten students at Forbes North, 42 at St Laurence’s and two and a half kindergarten classes at Forbes Public School.

While there were some tears, most students (and parents) were all smiles on the first day.

St Laurence’s put on a ‘tea and tears’ for parents after dropping off their children on the first day but office administrator Maryanne Tinlin said there were only three parents there yesterday and “not many tears”.

“[Yesterday] morning the students all settled really well,” she said.

Forbes North Public School principal Steve McAlister said most of their new students were also settling in well.

“Some more so than others, but that’s to be expected,” he said.

“Everything’s going very smoothly at the moment.

“It’s really pleasing to see how calm the start’s been for the kids.”

Mr McAlister said although there were a few tears on Thursday, most students - particularly those who participated in the Link Up program last year - were fine as opposed to their parents.

“There’s always a few but for the the kids that have been through Link Up, it’s not as daunting as it may be,” he said.

“There were a few tears from the parents more than the kids.”

Each school in Forbes runs a kindergarten program to make the transition to big school easier for preschoolers. Forbes North runs Link Up to School from term one, St Laurence’s Connecting Kinders program runs throughout term four and Forbes Public children participate in Prep 4 Big School in term three.