Yesterday was an important one for parents with preschool children in the UK. It was the day we discovered which school our little darlings will be attending in September. Now, I had vague experience of this momentous event a couple of years ago with some of my friends. I saw their anguish, I heard about their decisions, about why they thought this school or that school would be more suitable, and then their anxiety followed by elation on the day they received their results. But I didn’t really understand it.

Now, I totally understand it! We received our official letter from the local learning authority late last year, informing us that now was the time to choose a school for our children. I began to feel a bit emotional. My little girl was too young for school. Then she began to act out a bit, went through a phase of tantrums, and I thought, yeah, she is so ready for school now, I need a break! So I made arrangements to visit our three local primary schools. Fortunately for us, all of the schools in our small town have achieved a good Ofsted rating in recent years, so we couldn’t really make a poor decision.

My daughter visited the schools. We already knew a few children attending some of them. Our next door neighbour, my daughter’s role model and adopted big sister, is at the worldly age of 9 (almost 10), and my daughter was very excited to visit her school. We then decided it wasn’t quite right for us, however. We settled on a school within easy walking distance, where a few of my daughter’s friends from preschool started their education last year. Most of our friends decided to apply for the same school, so we were in good company. On the day I pressed ‘send’ to the online application, I felt a few butterflies in my tummy. And then the waiting began.

I had a fleeting notion than perhaps I could consider home schooling my children. My husband was not amenable to that suggestion. And I decided that perhaps he is right. I want to ensure my children can socialise while they are at school, and expose them to activities that we wouldn’t otherwise do. Like sports, for example. I am not exactly into sports. The most we do is an occasional visit to the swimming pool. But if my daughter were to take interest in a particular sport at school, then I would support her in it at home. There are other reasons as well, so school it is. And we received our result yesterday morning. We got our first choice, and my daughter will know almost every child in her reception class. Hooray! Now I have a few months of precious time with her before our routine changes again… pass the tissues, I have something in my eye!

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