TIME FOR A CHANGE

(APOLOGIES THESE AREN'T IN ORDER, HAVE GOT A BIT BEHIND IN UPLOADING THEM ! HERES A MEDWAY MESSENGER COLUMN FROM JULY )

As my boys return to school this Monday, it’s hard to believe that this is their final term at junior school.

It doesn’t seem like 5 minutes ago that I was dropping them off at nursery with their little lunch bags and picking them up at the end of the session proudly carrying their latest finger painting.

 A couple of years later it was off to “big school “as they joined reception class at our local primary . There were more than a few tears shed that day by parents as they walked out of their little offspring’s class so they could start their first day of education.

As the months on the calendar have passed we’ve watched them go from wearing uniforms that they could “ grow into “ to cursing having to buy new trousers after a growth spurt when there’s only 3 weeks left of the school year so that they aren’t wearing “ ankle swingers “.

And as a succession of school photos and the height chart on the kitchen door frame reveals they have gone from baby faced cherubs clinging to my legs to lovely polite young boys who have started to tower over my 5ft frame at the age of 11.

As this year’s summer holidays approach though it’ll be a time for change for them and their friends for when that last day of term arrives in July this year they won’t just be saying goodbye for a couple of weeks for some of them it will be the last time they ever see each other again.

The little red uniforms will be thrown away or passed onto a younger sibling and taking its place will be the blazer and school tie that represents a whole new beginning as they start secondary education.

There’ll be a trip to the school uniform shop to make sure we have all the correct required clothing which reminds me of my own visit to Eric Thomas school outfitters to purchase hockey boots that gave off a perturbing whiff of fish and a green science overall that when I started at grammar school came down to my ankles and by the end of my time there was somewhere near my knees.

There’ll be new pencils, pens and maths equipment to buy as well as P.E kit and we’ll be doing trial runs at the walk to the new school to see how long it will take to do so we know what time we are going to need to get up in the morning.

We’ll have as much fun as we can this school holiday because mum knows this is probably one of the last few years they will want to do anything with her and she wants to cherish that moment while it’s still here.

And she’ll be right there for them after the gates open in September if they need her but she’ll keep a low profile so their new mates don’t take the Mickey as the time for hard work and new adventures to begin and as they go from being mummy and daddy’s little boys to amazing  brilliant young men.