ARLINGTON — Post Middle School’s “Passport Day” returned the afternoon of Sept. 3, helping sixth- through eighth-graders get ready for the start of school the next week.

“The name comes from the idea that it’s giving kids a passport to middle school,” Post principal Bonnie Walker said. “They can get their photos taken, their ASB cards and their gym gear, so they’ll be up and running on their first day of school.”

Not only does the school offer an indoor terminal to allow families to make certain purchases online, but Action Sports has employees on site, printing students’ names on their PE clothes.

“It saves parents a trip,” Walker said.

Rich Senff of Action Sports noted that his store has done this for four years, giving him plenty of time to figure out how many supplies to bring up from his shop on Olympic Avenue.

Indoors, sixth-grade math teacher Tom Eckley met with incoming students such as Zoey Harris, who was accompanied by her step-parents, Lonnie and Debbie Hicks.

Lonnie and Debbie agreed that the Passport Day was “very helpful” and “a terrifically easy process,” while Zoey admitted to being “a little nervous, but also excited.”

“I just make sure parents know that I’ll be pushing their kids hard, but that their kids will be happy,” Eckley said. “For a lot of them, it’s their first time at a school where they don’t stay in the same classroom all day.”

Still, Eckley is already familiar with many of his students, either from teaching their older siblings or because his wife taught them in fourth grade.

“Our families are excited for next week,” Walker said. “And we’re excited to come back.”