First Day and Preparing for School
In the year before school, parents start to visit schools and imagine how their child will fit in. By the summer, conversations about "big school" become more regular. While trying to reassure their child that this new world will be welcoming and safe, parents may carry anxieties about how the start of school will affect their child and their family routines. If you need help, see our resource page for a list of useful organisations.
Choosing the Right School
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We spent quite a long time looking at schools, our catchment school we can actually see from our house. When we went there, we weren't really inspired; it didn't feel like they were making any effort at all. Um... and we went through a couple of other schools and didn't get very nice feelings from them. I think for me... I know that he's fabulous and I know that he will learn when he's interested and engaged. So, for me it wasn't about finding a school that has the best scores in everything or that Ofsted said are the best at different things. It was about how he felt in the different spaces and meeting the teachers and things.
Holding Back the Tears
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In the lead up to him starting school, I thought I would be terrible and burst into tears, and I think my mum had told me that she was like that, and I think my sister was tearful as well. I remember her talking about her first putting her uniform on and bursting into tears um but actually, I mean I don't know whether it was I was just so prepared for that, or like I just wasn't that person, but I think I maybe shed one tear, but it wasn't the terrible experience I thought it was going to be. I guess I felt emotional about it. One thing that I felt was that I felt a bit controlled by society or something. I felt that I no longer – 'cause in pre-school I could take him out whenever I wanted to, if I wanted to spend the afternoon together I'd just go and get him and they had no problem with that, but obviously in school you can't do that so I felt a bit controlled. Um... but I know it was for the greater good and you have to go and learn stuff so. Um... yeah, I guess I spent a lot of time like trying to put a brave face on for him, so, like I didn't want to show I was upset anyway so that kind of helped me too as well in a way I suppose, not to get upset, and I think the fact that I have got a younger one who isn't at school meant that it didn't feel like I was losing everything.
