p> I am so happy and excited because about three weeks ago Conrad jumped in the car when I picked him up one afternoon and said he had been given the opportunity to attend Mindquest, a weekend workshop of special tuition for gifted and talented students. His little face was so full of joy because he never assumed in a million years that he would ever go to something like Mindquest. Also due to his being away from school so much last year he was so terribly afraid what year five and six would bring that his confidence had hit rock bottom by the time the school year started in January. He said that when Mrs Jobson called him to her desk and held out the green form for Mindquest he had felt like jumping for joy.

And because this invitation to attend came so out of the blue we are even more happy for him. On the day he couldn’t wait to come home and tell Callum and send an SMS to Steven.

As he is feeling better physically he is actually having a ball at school. He enjoys learning and appreciates Mrs Jobson’s encouragement. Almost every day he comes home and says he loved his day at school. Of course I never really find everything they do out in detail but he tells us enough about his school days that we get a good idea.

He loves the Newcomb ball ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newcomb_ball )training and the matches on Friday afternoons and since he is feeling well at the moment is old joie de vivre is back in full force. He enjoys his cricket matches as well and the team made ‘Minor Premiers’ again, like last year. So next weekend his team (ICC 10A), as well as Callums team (14A) have semi finals. These will be on both Saturday and Sunday and if they win their teams will go onto the finals.

Unfortunately Conrad’s cricket seasin overlaps with that of his football team and so he misses out on training. But lately Steven, Callum and Conrad have started playing a bit of street soccer and so he is getting into the swing of things anyway.