Notice: The Sixth-Grader Walks at the Front — Epoche B1
Notice: Walking Groups for the New School Year Sakura Primary School, with the Midori 3-chōme Residents' Association, Nagano City Posted: 28 March To: All households with children at the school The roads around the school are narrow, in places without pavements, and busiest at exactly ten to eight. Children here walk to school without their parents from the age of six — that is normal — but they should not walk unorganised. From 8 April the walking groups (shūdan tōkō) start again, and the arrangement deserves explaining to new families, because the group is run by the children themselves. Each neighbourhood han of about eight children walks a fixed route at a fixed time. A sixth-grader walks at the front as leader and sets the pace to the smallest legs; another senior child walks at the rear; the first-graders, in their yellow hats and yellow satchel covers, walk in the middle. The leader counts heads at every meeting point and again after every crossing. The adults' part is deliberately small: parents take turns standing at the two large crossings with yellow flags, and nothing more. Rules for the new year: Group 3 meets at the park entrance at 7:40 and leaves at 7:45 — with or without latecomers, who then walk with a parent. If a child is ill, telephone the leader's household by 7:20. A group must never wait for a child it cannot account for. Please do not bring children by car. The group is the school's arrangement, and cars at the gate are what it protects the children from. New first-graders meet their leader on 5 April, at the hall, satchels on. The sixth-graders take the introductions seriously; they have waited five years to walk at the front. References Japan Property Management Association (2023). Guidelines for Residential Building Management. JPMA Publishing.