After seven years at the Bermuda Institute, ten-year-old Alayé Nia Darrell found himself one of the newest pupils at Warwick Academy, Bermuda's oldest school, on September 3 this year.

The transfer was initiated by his parents who were attracted by the broader curriculum offered, including the scheduled classes for music and foreign languages. Now Alayé, a member of the Year 7 Music class, will be playing his trumpet under the instruction of Kent Hayward, and will be adding French to the fundamentals of Spanish he acquired at the Language Institute last year.

Beginning the new school year in a new school will take some adjustment, and as part of our Back to School theme, the Young Observer asked Alayé to record his thoughts as he adjusted to new routines and new faces.

September 2: The night before the first day. I really don't know what the school is about. It should be fun. I hope the teachers are not rude. I hope I understand what I learn. Everyone expects so much from me.

September 3: I'm not sure today went well. I missed two classes. I didn't know what classes I attended. Let's just hope tomorrow will be better. But first I will thank God I got through the first day.

September 4: School fun, exciting and a lot better. I wasn't shy after form class. History and science were informative today. I never knew how much fun I would have. I hope I have more fun than I did today. In weeks to come things will get better.

September 5: Today went great. Everything was a breeze. I didn't have any problems. I played without worrying about anything. I think I'm going to like this school. I just hope it's like this every day.

September 8: The second week. Today was absolutely great. I was a little sad in the morning. I miss BI and miss being in one class. Moving from class to class is confusing. I wonder if my friends are mad or sad because I'm gone. But everything was fine after that. I didn't have any problems with finding classes. The whole "new school" thing should be okay.

September 9: Today was weird. It wasn't good or bad. I felt kind of sad at times. I'm not really used to it. I couldn't tell myself I was going to do this five out of seven days. I think it might be okay. I think I could've been nervous. The whole thing is so new to me. I am scared, but everything's not good the first couple of times. I will hang in there and do my best.