ABOVE: St Patrick's Parish School kindergarten class of 2013 are (back) Abbey, Emily, Ethan, Archie, Elijah, Jacob, Jett, Laura, Tyrell, Reece, Rhys, Esther, Meg, Ellia, Riley, Evie, Aysha, Ben, Alana, Tyler, Gabrielle, Jorja, Ann, Lucy, Tia, Amity and Tom. Teachers are Miesje Blumer, Angie Introna and Marg Field.
LEFT: The new kindergarten students at Cooma Public School are (back) Jada, Travis, Joshua, Sienna, Sophie, Damien, Jordyn, Alistair, Penelope, Jeremiah, Jack, Dylan, (middle) Kane, Sharni, Nylinda, Toni, Will, Felix, Shelby-Rose, William, Hixson, Hunter, Lachlan, Ava, Charlie, (front) Tristan, Jonah, Pippen, Sean, Amy, Shayaan, Aimee, Jake, Ruby, Thevani and Ella. Abesnt: Mikayla
Full of excitement and energy, and maybe some nerves, dozens of youngsters across the Monaro had their first day of big school last week.
With their bags and lunches packed they headed off to one of the primary schools across the Monaro for their first day in kindergarten.
There were 37 new kindergarten students at Cooma Public and 28 at St Patrick's Parish School.
More local children were enrolled at Cooma North Public and Snowy Mountains Christian School as well as those in outlying villages such as Bredbo, Jerangle and Nimmitabel.