Preparing for the Start of Year 1
The end of the school holidays is nigh. The end of Erin’s first six week holiday; her longest ever break without some form of school, nursery or childcare is fast approaching, and in just over two weeks time, we will be packing the PE bag, sorting out her pile of reading books and preparing her uniform for her first day in Year One. New teachers, a shake up of teaching groups and a slightly more academic approach to learning, it may be quite a change to what she is used to.
It literally feels like yesterday that we were helping her prepare for the start of reception. I was lucky enough to have some time off before Erin started school, and as such, we had a week together just me and her, doing a number of Mum Daughter date days where I got to embrace every last minute of having her with me at home in the daytime.
Whilst I was incredibly emotional walking Erin to the school gates on her first day, Erin couldn’t have taken the experience more in her stride. She was really excited – mostly about putting on her new uniform and shiny black shoes, but she didn’t shed a tear, barely looked back when I left her at the door and came running out to me at 3.30 with a huge smile on her face. Despite being one of the younger girls in the class, she has adjusted to school life incredibly well, and even told me yesterday that she missed school and was looking forward to going back.
To be totally honest, out of the two of us, Erin has probably coped with the start of school life better than me! I always knew I wasn’t going to be the most organised of school Mums when I wrote “I will be *that* school Mum”, but I kind of proved my predictions right. I have pretty much coasted through the entire year relying far too much on the Parent’s WhatsApp group or one of the other far more organised Mother’s to remind me of what I need to pay and when, what I need to take, and what homework we need to have completed. I try and keep track of all the emails and letters we get but most of them get lost in the jumble of my mailbox and it took me till Week 3 of the school holidays to even discover we had a Summer Reading Challenge – Oops.
This year, I am going to *attempt* to be a little more organised. Thanks to Debenhams, the uniform side of things is one less thing I have to worry about, as we now have her entire school uniform purchased, washed and ironed ready for the first day back in September.
Erin is a very active child, who loves to dance, jump and run, so her uniform needs to be hard wearing and be prepared to get put through it’s paces. Debenhams Back to School range has definitely catered for children just like this; with their uniform featuring Teflon technology – which works to repel water and stains. Their shoes are also scuff resistant, being able to withstand literally whatever Erin decides to throw at them. Not only that, but to help the parents too, the uniform ranges are all easy iron – so for people like me that detest every single second of standing behind an ironing board, you don’t need to spend any longer than necessary getting ready for the morning madness.
Last year Erin enjoyed having a variety of different styles for her uniform, and alternated between pinafore dresses and skirts, the latter of which was ideal when it was PE day, making it much easier for her to get dressed and undressed by herself. That said, however, with elasticated waists and easy access zips and buttons, the entire Debenhams Back to School range is tailored to suit little hands. For those who are also petite like Erin, the skirts feature handy waist adjusters inside, so that the skirts can be tapered in if they are coming up a little big at the start of term.
As they were a firm favourite with Erin last year, we bought some more of the bow skirts and pinafores, which are a little bit different to the classic style pinafores available elsewhere. We also bought some of the kilt style skirts, and easy zip pinafores, with the small heart zip a lovely finishing touch to the design (pictured above).
As per last year, I am both nervous and excited about what this academic year will bring. Watching Erin grow up makes me feel incredibly emotional but also makes me burst with pride. I love the conversation, the imagination, and the way she is figuring out the world around her every single day. One thing I am not quite ready for yet however is the school run traffic, having got quite accustomed to the easy work commute in the holidays!
We will be making the most of the last two weeks of the holidays with a couple of mornings with just the two of us, something that I always look forward to now that it’s a fairly rare occurrence. Have you got your uniform sorted yet? You can check out the entire Debenhams Back to School range here – there is currently up to 20% off across the entire range.
*This is a collaborative post*
