First Year of School

I remember the chair I sat in and I remember the sense of dread I felt in my belly day after day. I remember the words the 300 year old teacher used that made me hate almost every day and I remember the escape routes I planned in my head. I remember the hill we played on during break times and I remember the names of almost everyone in the class.

In many ways I’ve been dreading Adlai starting school. Nervous he’d have an experience like mine. So as I went to the welcome evening for parents at the school he’ll be starting at in September the familiar dread in my belly was growing.

We joined a nervous looking bunch of parents in the school hall and sat on small chairs. The school staff were sat around the edge looking surprisingly cheerful and I didn’t see any that looked close to 300. 

As the head teacher talked about school values and the experience we can expect for our child it became increasingly clear that school has made some considerable improvements in the last 30 years. They talked about our children’s happiness, security and confidence being the most important thing to them… Not misery, doom and gloom as I’d expected.

As we looked around Adlai’s classroom and met his teacher Faith started crying… In a good way. The play area makes my hill look like the mole hill it was. There’s a garden with vegetables, ladders for climbing, blocks for stacking, tyres for rolling, sand for digging, a pool to swim in (seriously) and much, much more. Then we met his teacher who is a tenth of the age I’d and is positively brilliant. Honestly we didn’t want to leave.

So now there is an excitement in my household for my eldest son to pioneer our next generation into school life. To make new memories, climb different hills and make a whole bunch of friends.

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