Rurubau School

In 1976 I went to 6th Grade at Rurubau School in Bairiki, on Tarawa, where Mr. Parr, from England, was the headmaster. He was also the 6th grade teacher, although it was called Class 7 there, because this was a British school for expatriates' children. You see, until 1979, Kiribati was part of the British Commonwealth, a colony, and was known back then as "Gilbert Islands". So there was a significant presence of British government workers there, together with their families. (Another story for another day, a special friend, Xanthe Wynne-Jones.) Most of the British children after finishing Class 7 and sometimes even sooner would be sent to England during the school year to live at a boarding school. So they only offered the lower classes. (That's why we used Calvert School the next year for me.)

Anyway, I was way ahead of most of the kids in my class for reading. I quickly cruised through the last series of text books they had for literature in the classroom. I remember it to be something about griffins, and fantasy creatures like that. They were great. But when I finished, Mr. Parr had to figure out what to do with me. Finally he decided to let me have free run of the tiny school library. I could read anything I wanted in there, and just keep track of the reading. He'd grade from my tracking book. That was cool!

Mr. Parr read The Hobbit to us that year. I remember the groans at the end of each chapter when he quit reading. I remember doing a report on Thomas Alva Edison there. I worked hard on that one, and got 5 unit points for it! That was Mr. Parr's form of reward for the students. He would write "5 UP" or "1 UP" on homework done well. Five was the greatest. To this day, I have a warm place in my heart for Edison.

Mr. Parr was strict, and would yell a lot, getting frustrated at kids, but he never got mad at me. I always had an easy time with teachers, since I knew how to please adults. Adults were easy, it was kids that were hard. Mr. Parr was also nice, and loved learning. I remember feeling that from him.

Mr. Parr taught us to play the recorder. He was great. He even wrote a whole bunch of arrangements for us. We did a whole Christmas concert on recorders. He also wrote some songs. I remember one he wrote, "Oh, It's Independence for the Gilberts Now." That was in celebration of the anticipation of the country becoming free from British rule.
From Mrs. Parr...actually, I seem to remember it being somebody else...I took a sewing class. There I learned how to sew without first making a knot. I remember, "Knots are messy and unprofessional sewing!"

We wore uniforms, of course. I can't remember what color though...I'll think about that. I remember a maroon uniform at Tonga Side School, a green & white one at Liahona Side School also in Tonga, but hmm...can't remember the ones at Rurubau. Oh well.

Our family all became friends with the Parr family. They had a son named Jonathan, younger than I, but nice. I loved that name, and wanted to someday name a son after him. (And I have!) I-barely-remember having dinner at their house - their family and ours. They were neat people.