It was six thirty in the morning, the first day of the new school year, and the boys up at the Father Ray Children’s Home are having a great time on the trampoline.

The summer holidays are over, everyone is dressed in their brand new uniforms and there will be no more holidays until October.

Here in Thailand there are only two school terms each year. No Christmas holidays, no Easter holidays or half term breaks, just five months of hard work.

As the hour of seven o’clock arrived the children climbed into buses, mini-vans and into the back of pick up trucks for the journey to school. The residents of the Home attend eighteen different schools in the Pattaya area, so for some the journey is short while for others it takes up to an hour to reach their destination.

But as the last vehicle leaves  a silence falls over the Home that has not been felt since March. The children have all gone off to school and the staff can get on with their work without interruption, but come five o’clock this evening everyone will have arrived home, exhausted, hungry and wishing that October was not so far away.

There were a lot of mixed emotions up at the Father Ray Children’s Village this morning, the first day back at school at the start of a new school year.

Several children were looking forward to going back to school, seeing new friends and finding out what they have been doing for the past seven weeks. Others are making the big step from primary to secondary school, and are nervous about what will happen to them, but happy that they are now grown up.

A few younger children are starting school for the very first time, and they do not know what to expect.

When the time came for everyone to board the vehicles to take them to school one little boy, who was going to school for the first time, was not ready. He could not find his shoes or socks and he was getting upset.

He ran from room to room, getting more upset, tears were falling and then Mum arrived, carrying his brand new shoes and socks.

In his crisp white shirt, brown shorts, his shoes and socks, and with his new satchel strapped to his back he was eventually ready to join the others on the bus.

The Regents School hosted the second Picnic in the Park which took place at the Father Ray Children’s Village on the afternoon of Sunday 13^th May.

A variety of songs and musical numbers were performed throughout the afternoon, much to the delight of the large crowd who attended.

The event was organised by the school’s music department, in particularly Miss Karen Partyka who, apart from making sure everything ran to plan, accompanied the singing students on piano and saxophone.

No picnic would be complete without a barbecue, and the Australian parents showed just why the best barbecue cooks come from Down Under. Burgers and sausages were cooked to perfection, and the fried onions were delicious.

With full bellies the children were entertained with a face painting stall, miniature train rides, pottery making and a bouncy castle, which looked at one point to be ready to collapse as there was so many children bouncing around.

Half way through the afternoon, as the musicians were taking a well earned break, a groundbreaking ceremony took place with representatives from the Father Ray Foundation, Jesters Cares for Kids and The Regents School.

Both the Jesters and The Regents School had recently made large donations to construct a sports court which will be used by the underprivileged children living at the Father Ray Children’s Village.

Father Peter, President of the Father Ray Foundaiton, was joined by Woody Underwood, President of Jesters, and Karen Partyka in digging the first hole in what will be the center of the sports court. Construction will take a few months, depending on the weather, and when complete the children will have a safe place to play.

It is a very rare occasion to have sixty young children from the Father Ray Children’s Home sitting in silence for a whole hour. But this is what happened when they went to watch Pattaya’s newest entertainment extravaganza, Magic People Illusion Show.

Located on the top floor of The Avenue onSecond Road, the magic and illusion show is set to rival any other show in Pattaya, and it was the perfect day out for the youngsters on the final day of their long summer holiday from school.

This fast moving performance included a magnificent light and sound show, dancers, magic tricks and illusions that saw many children sitting on the edges of their seats with their mouths open.

The children lost count of how many performers appeared on stage before disappearing and then reappearing again, and the question on everyone’s lips after the show finished was “how do they do that?”

The management team from the Magic People Illusion Show has already invited more children from the Father ray Foundation to attend the show next month, and already the children are counting the days.