Students will be trading their pencils and pens for sprinklers; their backpacks for bathing suits and their textbooks for summer sun because today is the last day of school.

Public schools are finishing their last assignments and releasing 9,271 students for three months of vacation. Mock-graduations for kindergarten and sixth graders have been held; Cedar Hill even had theirs at Toll Gate.

This past school year has seen a lot of bumps in the road between the possibility of Vets being re-purposed as a middle school and the four snow days during the winter.

Vets remained a high school and this won’t be the last year for Gorton and Aldrich Junior Highs [a consultant will now study school consolidation], but enrollment is still decreasing. The high school saw some of their smallest graduating classes ever in the class of 2014. That doesn’t have to be necessarily a bad thing Director of Secondary Education Dennis Mullen said.

“With every dark cloud comes something good. Yes our numbers are down, but we are getting the chance to have more individualized teaching, more opportunities for the students because we can focus on more opportunities when we are under-populated. You have to see the bright side,” he said.

Mullen believes this past school year was still very successful despite all the obstacles. The high schools, after years of increasing proficiency in math on state testing, have finally reached the state average of 35 percent, where only a few years ago we were still in the 20 percentile. The schools scored in the mid to high 80 percentages in reading.

“We aren’t where we need to be yet, but we are heading in the right direction. We have created a course for students who don’t do well on the NECAPs to help them work through their issues on the subject matter; we now have math lab to help students and a STARR Assessment program to track where the students are concerning math and watch their growth as students.”

The last day for teachers means conferences and evaluations about their Student Learning Objectives (SLOs) while also preparing technology for the summer months doing inventory.

For students, the last day is a time to make up for late assignments and make-up exams.

Remembering his own last days in school, Mullen said, “It was a lot of going to classroom to classroom saying goodbye to friends and teachers. I don’t think it is too much like that now. The school environment has changed with high stakes testing, and constant assessment. The culture of the last day changed. More than ever the kids are having to demonstrate their proficiency.”

This summer the students aren’t escaping school completely. Every grade has a summer assignment. In the past, it was noticed that summer assignments were inconsistent throughout schools and grades. Dr. Anne Siesel, the assistant director of curriculum, made a new rubric for summer assignments, so that there is equality across the board. Teachers who gave too much and those who gave too little are now on the same playing field with the new system. A letter is being sent to parents explaining the requirements of students during the summer. It starts in kindergarten with a readiness checklist in English and math to honors and AP students who have an assignment in every subject.

Summer school for students looking to make up failed classes, or simply for enrichment, runs July 7 to Aug. 5. It will be held at Pilgrim High School.

But don’t worry, there will still be time for fun this summer and Warwick has some great opportunities for fun.

The Warwick Boys and Girls Club is offering two camps, The Fantastic Summer Camp and the Warwick B.L.A.S.T. Camp. The Fantastic Camp will be held on the 74 acres of the Masonic Youth Grounds in Warwick for children 5 years of age entering kindergarten to 13 years old. This camp runs from June 23 to Aug. 22 weekdays from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. There will be a by-hour rotating schedule so the kids all get the chance to swim or play sports or do arts and crafts. Kids can be picked up and dropped off anytime throughout the day as long as they are picked up by 6 p.m. The camp will cost $115 per week.

The second camp, Bringing Learning and Service Together (BLAST), was established through a Hasbro Learning Grant and will be held at the Oakland Beach Boys and Girls Club. With this camp, students in fourth, fifth, or sixth grade will work together on service projects for the community and for the ocean.

The Kent County YMCA has numerous camps for all ages from preschool to teenage leadership courses at their 117 acres Camp Ok-Wa-Nessett. The camps have weekly themes such as “Space Exploration” or “Camp Carnival” and run weekdays from 8:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. The cost depends on camp and time. Some of the preschool camps include “Dinosaur Stomp,” where kids look for fossils, or “Rumble in the Jungle,” where children from 3 to entering kindergarten learn all about wild animals. As the age groups get older, the camps become more complex. “Backwoods Camp” helps children learn how to survive in the wild; they hike, swim and build forts. For teens, there are leadership programs that can prepare them for becoming a counselor. For more information on camps and enrollment, call the Kent County YMCA at 838-0130 or visit their website at www.ymcagreaterprovidence.org

The Warwick Public Library also has a summer reading program. At the end of every week children win a prize if they complete that week’s reading. Students who complete the reading requirements will be entered into raffles to win tickets to a PawSox game or Microscope set. Registration opened on June 14 and you can sign up at the library or online. They have several programs and events through the summer, including musical performers, a robot class and some fun science classes. Kid Scientists has four sessions throughout the summer. The first two are already full, but the last two will open for registration soon. The class takes an aspect of science and explores it through a hands-on project. Throughout the week the library will also have book of the week with a corresponding craft.

The branch libraries throughout Warwick, Apponaug, Conimicut, and Norwood also have activities that you can sign up for by phone. Apponaug is having an animal experience for 4- to 10-year-olds in early July. Conimicut is having live sea creatures and Norwood is having Henna by Heather for 10- to 15-year-olds in July. Call each branch for registration: Apponaug at 739-6411, Conimicut at 737-6546, or Norwood at 941-7545.

Summer is upon us. It starts today for Warwick public school students.

“This summer, we, as administrators and teachers, will be working on how to make ourselves even better as educators,” Mullen said, “but we hope that the kids just have a safe and fun summer.”

Warwick schools will be back in session on Aug. 27.