Share your memories of your DCs and your own first day of school with F&F – £200 voucher prize draw NOW CLOSED

[MichelleMumsnet]

F&F has asked us to find out what Mumsnetters remember from their DCs first day of school as well as what you remember from your own first day of school.

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"We know that Back to School can be a stressful and emotional time for parents and our aim is to make the transition from holidays to school as easy as possible. We?re really looking forward to hearing your memories and stories about starting school!"

So, what do you remember from your DCs first day of school? Did their excitement turn into a bundle of nerves as you left them at the school gate? If your DC is going off to school for the first time this September, how do you feel about it? Are you thrilled for their next step or nervous about how they will cope with the change? Can you take yourself back to your own first day of school? What do you remember?

Everyone who comments on this thread will be entered into a prize draw to win a £200 F&F e-voucher.

Thanks and good luck,

MNHQ

My daughter was so excited about starting school that she insisted on wearing her new school uniform for most of the summer holidays beforehand. However, when it got to the first day, she threw a wobbly about wearing it saying she was fed up with it and wanted to wear her Barbie outfit!

I remember DS standing in line, the smallest in his class, backpack on both shoulders looking very unsure as I left him. I sobbed all the way home, when I picked him up later...he didn't want to leave!

I remember feeling very little compared to everyone else in the classroom and being very proud of my smart blue jumper and grey skirt. I remember gathering around the teacher to listen to stories and my eyes wondered around all of the different things in the classroom and what we would be using them for. I have a very vivid memory of my name being called out on the register and being the last name as I was the very youngest in the classrooom.

I remember the dress my teacher work (blue stripes, and very 80s). I have no idea why I can remember that and nothing else of note!

For my son starting school i remember feeling nervous yet excited for him (little did i know then what a nightmare school would turn out to be for him and little did we know that we had a child with Autism that no-one had spotted).

I went for coffee with our antenatal group friends who also had children starting at the same school at the same time and I was so glad to have them as I would have been dreadful sat alone at home worrying about my son. So my top tip would be to keep busy and meet up with friends!

My son was first in line coming out of school that first day with a big smile on his face so that was actually a happy memory to see. I felt so proud of him.

In to the classroom on her first day as the children were settling down the teacher said "right children find somewhere you'd like to sit while we wave bye to Mum's and Dad's" and my little one sat in the teachers chair and said "I'm not sitting on the carpet, this is more like my kind of chair" !!

When I started school (1980) you started the term before you were 5. Being summer born, I didn't get to start school until the May. All my friends started before then, so for a whole term I went and begged mrs Povey to let me start school as I could already read.

On my first day though I wasn't impressed because I wasn't allowed to start reading the first book in the reading scheme. I wanted to start at the beginning and read them all, but the teacher wouldn't let me read roger red hat, billy blue hat etc... I had to start on "the village with 3 corners". I threw a tantrum because I wasn't allowed to read roger red hat! Eventually, when helping out at a local primary when I was a sixth former, I found the old books and eventually got to read them .

I also remember that on my trial day we were given milk, but when I started school they didn't have it any more. I was really upset as I was looking forward to my little milk in a bottle.

I don't remember much about my daughter's first day of school, except she told me to go home as she was fine and didn't need me there.

Dd2 was so excited about going to school, she ran on ahead and through the gates before I even got to school. I didn't even get to say goodbye / take a photo or anything. She was gone!

Each time, for my children I cried!

I can remember my first day at school as if it was yesterday,it was in 1960,I can still see my dad walking away accross the playground,I was at the window it was a nursery class the teacher was called Mrs Ball she seemed very old to me. In the afternoon we had to lie on campbeds ,we had our own grey blanket mine had a blue bat and ball on ,I cried while most of the other kids slept for what seemed like ages,my dad came to take me home and I hated school from that day onwards and never ever liked school,thank god things have changed for our children now

I don't remember my first day at school but I do remember my brothers!
My brother is 4 years younger than me but because I was (and still am) very tiny, he was actually very slightly larger than me when he started school. On his first day he grabbed hold of my school cardigan in the playground and started to spin me round & round. I yelled at him to let me go..... He did! The full force of the momentum then propelled me face first into the Tarmac. Blood everywhere I happened to land on a large crack on the playground that was forever known as the place where Wonkylegs broke her nose. I kept away from him at playtime after that.

I can't remember my first day of school. The only memory I have is of the playground outside, and I think it was a misplaced memory.

The DC's first days seem to have been remarkably uneventful. I have been off work for them, and arranged to do something with the child after - the first day has always been a half day. Lots of photos in school uniform before to keep.

I suspect I will cry when I drop the youngest off at school for the first time.

My one isn't old enough for school yet but my first day was lovely. The teachers were really kind and I made loads of new friends. It was just a shame that my mum thought school finished at 4pm and not 3pm... When I was the last child at the gate the secretary had to call my mum to come and pick me up. I can tell you, it wasn't the last time I was the last one left at the school gates! :(

I was worried that DD, who has a mild disability, would not cope at school. While we were waiting for her first afternoon, she said hello to another little girl, and they went off to the classroom hand-in-hand. She didn't even say goodbye to me!

They are still firm friends now.

I remember clinging to my dad's leg on my first day at school. I was so overwhelmed after being looked after by a childminder- school seemed so massive!
My mum took me over to te fancy dress box to distract me and I was quite happy to wave them off at that point

I recently took dd for a taster session at a local school. Or couldn't have gone better. She made a little group of friends who took her off to show her around and she got stuck straight into the afternoon activities- even joining in at snack time! She loved it! At least I know she's going to settle well there and I'm happy to leave her now when the time comes, sort of!

My son starts school in September and I'm really excited for him, he's so looking forward to it and is really keen. I know however that when it comes to the night before and the first day I will feel very emotional and won't want to let him go. It's an end of an era, I work part time and will miss spending days with him and taking him to groups as I have done since he was born. That said I really don't want to hold h back and feel he will benefit from starting with his friends. He's already tried on his uniform (purchased through the tesco embroidery service) and loves it. He looks very smart and it's comfy too. We are currently talking about it often just to get him used to the idea of it.

I started school a week after my 3rd birthday.

I took my shoes off and got told off so I hid under a table.

I also vividly remember a discussion among the teachers about who had done some writing. They couldn't work it out and thought an older child had been in the class. But it was me.

Not a great start and it went downhill from there onwards.

And they tried to force me to drink luke warm milk. Makes me nauseous thinking about it.

And because I wouldn't drink it they never let me be milk monitor and push the straws in. Mean.

I don't remember much about my first day at school other than the colourful pictures painted on all the windows which didn't work well with the inside of the school which was old (Victorian) with new paint and polished floors. I would have walked with mum and my older brother and sister so probably wasn't worried as they were both going too.

DS1 started on his 5th birthday (6th September) and stayed all day and was looking forward to his lunch. It felt a bit false though because we knew we were moving 350 miles away after half term so he wasn't going to be there long.

DD1 started in a smaller primary just half days (for weeks and weeks!) and looked cute in her too big cardigan and too long dress that I'd had to take up the night before. She wasn't too nervous as the nursery had been mixed with reception so she knew the teacher already. However we had moved again so she went to a closer school in Year 2 when DS1 started secondary. She was more nervous that time but made friends with another girl who had just moved too.

DD2 started half days too (again for weeks and weeks), she had cried every day at nursery so I was expecting her to be the same at school but she didn't and it was such a relief! She was looking forward to staying for school dinners but had to wait about 4 weeks before they were allowed.

DS2 sadly died and will not have a first school at day, it should be this year and it's playing on my mind a lot.

DS3 will start next year and I am not looking forward to that, he is my last baby and I am keeping him with me as long as possible. Despite having had 3 children already go through starting school, when he goes it will remind me too much of what DS2 never had. Also I can say is this though, when DS3 gets there they are going to have their hands full!

Oh dear! Dd1's first day of school I got dd ready, we walked to school as a family, dd happily swinging her brand new book bag. Joined parents in playground, queued dd up with her class. Only to be told reception were starting the following day . She starting year 2 this sept. Her brother starts reception and I'm not being allowed to forget it by anyone, least of all dd1.

Mine was fairly uneventful. I remember my lovely teacher. Who not retired recently. I had a postman pat lunchbox which lasted me through to year 2 of junior school. I also remember hiding under the table with a boy who became one of my best friends until he moved away in juniors.

My first day at highschool 35 years ago still clear in my mind.
Couldnt eat my cornflakes I was so nervous. So different from now, where girls are trendy, I was in a past the knee A-line skirt, white knee length socks and pigtails pulled so tight that when I took them out that night my face sagged and head sighed in relief from the pain and strain.
My mum had got me the most horrific bag 'on the cheap' from my aunt. I hated it. She sent me with a pack up and a flask of vimto.
I thought I'd never find my way round, got confused over break times and got teased for having large breasts . I wanted to stay in my room playing records.
I must have looked such a geek. I ended up being one of the coolest girls in school and now considered a cool mum at 46, but it's cos I emerged from that horrific cocoon of my first days in school

I only remember a few things about my first day at school - well, it was the- ahem- 80s (not)! My mother hadn't bought a satchel/ duffle bag for some reason, so I had to take one of her old handbags... still remember the embarrassment. However, there was a Mini roll in there and that helped. (Still have a thing for handbags...though, not so much Mini rolls) Also remember a boy on his first day rolling on the floor, screaming & crying. On my son's first day my friends & I went to a local cafe and sobbed. The children were fine!

Have a look at a picture book called The First Day at School by Toby Forward( illustrated by Carol Thompson). It's written from two perspectives - the mother and child. It's really lovely.

So, what do you remember from your DCs first day of school? Did their excitement turn into a bundle of nerves as you left them at the school gate? If your DC is going off to school for the first time this September, how do you feel about it? Are you thrilled for their next step or nervous about how they will cope with the change? Can you take yourself back to your own first day of school? What do you remember?

DC's first proper day of school was 2012 in reception. The school is the same site, so it wasn't new and different, but it was still "proper school" in uniform. I took photos of her in the morning in her nice shiny uniform and posted them on facebook, as did all my friends of their DC.

I was nervous for DD as it was a change to be in the other side of the school.

I can't remember anything at all about my own first day at school, but I can remember another girl's first daya year later. She screamed the place down and kicked chairs at the teacher!

I was only 4 when I started school and hadn’t ever been to nursery so went straight from my mum’s ‘apron strings’ to infant school. It was late 1960’s and I remember clear as day mum dropping me off at the classroom door and watching her disappear away down the school drive. I recall the teacher spending most of that first day flitting between all 30 odd of us newly 'abandoned' kids, reassuring us with kind words that our mums would actually be coming back for us in the afternoon.

DS’s first day at school was thankfully much more positive and he bounced out at 3.15 saying how nice his ‘school mummy’ was… his lovely teacher told us at the first parents evening that from the very first day he had made sure he sat closest to her at story time and used to snuggle against her as he listened intently to her reading to the class.

I don't have children myself but my first day of school was eighteen years ago in April

My mum took me into the classroom. She had left my younger sister with a friend so that she could focus on me. Two of the new boys had already arrived and there was also a Year 1 girl who gave me a lollipop as it had been her birthday the day before. I went straight to my tray to put my book bag away, as we had been shown on our taster day, and then sat down on the carpet to do puzzles with the others, without a backward glance

My mum later told me that when she left, all the other new Reception girls were clinging to their mums and crying, not wanting to be separated. I think my confidence was a testament to my mum's parenting, but I think she was a bit sad that I seemed so willing to leave her!