Miss NHM starts school tomorrow morning. She’s only in for a half day, but I’m still completely in denial.
It feels like it’s the end. I can’t quite describe it.
I explained it earlier to Mr NHM, that it feels like I have a huge guillotine hanging above me and it’s about to chop my head off! (Yes, I am a touch dramatic, but if you’ve been reading NHM for a while, you will already know that :-D).
Settling in Sessions
We had four settling in sessions which were half an hour each. Which is perfect for us working parents…NOT!
Miss NHM was fine in her settling in sessions and I was pleased to see that she knows quite a few of the children in her class.
During the first two settling in sessions parents stayed in the same room with the children. Then for the last two settling in sessions the parents were asked to wait in another room. It was funny seeing all the little parent “cliques” that have already been formed.
Buying School Shoes
I was advised in early June to book for an appointment in August. We booked our appointment for the middle of August and they STILL only had one choice of shoe in Miss NHM’s size.
The appointment itself was fairly pain free. I got a text the day before reminding me of our slot and we were done in 20 minutes, even with the drama of them not having enough selection.
The Home Visit
Was fifteen minutes long and took 1.5 hours to tidy for!
It was a chance to ask the teachers any questions we had, for them to clarify anything with us and to confirm that we had everything ready (water bottle, PE kit, everything labeled, milk booked, etc).
We were also given a book for Miss NHM to read at home with some suggestions of things to talk about the book.
Labelling
We’ve been labelling for a while for nursery but this feels different. I recently put out a please on Facebook on “Louise nhm Smith” about which labels NHM Readers recommended and I will get that post up very soon with everyone’s suggestions.
I “delegated” the labelling of all items to Mr NHM (one of the perks of his military background!) and we still have a few more things to sort.
The Night Before
Everything is currently laid out on our bed and I’m convinced I’ve missed something.
I am still completely in denial. I haven’t even tried out Miss NHM’s uniform on her yet and we still haven’t labelled everything!
I feel really sad but am trying to be a bit excited for Miss NHM too. Tomorrow morning we will have a special breakfast at home, just the three of us, and then we will be as “up beat” as possible until after we have dropped Miss NHM off.
We will then run home and I will spend all day on mute on my conference calls, weeping into the conference unit and hoping that no one asks me anything. Sigh.
Someone described it to me a few months ago as being as traumatic as giving birth. I kind of get that. I had no idea it would be as traumatic as this. It feels like the end but I know it’s just another beginning.
I just hope that Miss NHM loves it and doesn’t lose the fantastic confidence that she has.
Good luck to everyone else whose little one’s start YR tomorrow and this week. You are all in my thoughts!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Don’t miss out on future posts like this – you can receive updates directly to your inbox by email by adding your email address to the box on the top right of this page and hitting subscribe. You can also follow NorthHantsMum onTwitter,Google+,Facebook Page, Facebook Profile, LinkedIn and Feedly. I hope to see you there!