Today marked a big change in the Boo Roo and Tigger Too household. Tigger started pre-school, a day that has been thought and planned for many, many months.
Day nursery or pre-school?
The decision to move Tigger from his day nursery that he has attended since he was 10 months old was a double edged sword for me. On one hand the move would make the school runs so much easier with both Roo and Tigger in the same school albeit for just two school terms before Roo moves to junior school. However, on the other hand I would be removing him from the security of his friends and key workers he has grown up with. Those ladies know his quirks, his moods and how to persuade him to do something when he is being stubborn.
I did, and have decided to move him to the pre-school environment, where hopefully he will then stay and attend infant school there too. Thankfully Tigger is familiar with the school as I have been fortunate enough to have been allowed to bring him along to school events that I have attended for Roo.
Home visit
Similar to when Roo started in the pre-school the the teacher and main teaching assistant came to see us in our own home. I have to admit to thinking that this was them being nosey about where and how we lived (especially making sure that we were within the catchment area).
The actual reason for the home visit is so that the child sees that their parents have trusted these strangers to come into their home, therefore they must be OK for them to talk and interact with.
We had our home visit back in December and whilst I completed the relevant paperwork with his teacher he played the monkey business game with his teaching assistant. I had a chance to ask questions about what he needed before he started and in turn I was asked about his allergies, fears and personality.
Taster session
Mid-December saw Tigger and myself invited along to the pre-school for a taster session, an opportunity for Tigger to become familiar with the layout, staff, children and most importantly the toys. Within a matter of moments Tigger had managed to find himself a train so he was happy to sit and play, although he wasn’t interested in playing or interacting with any of the other children (I suppose this will come with time).
Uniform shopping
As the pre-school is attached to an infant school you are given the option to send your child in school uniform or in their own usual clothing. Personally anything that saves them getting paint, glue and lord knows what else on their home clothes is the way forward. Also as Roo wears uniform to go to school I wanted Tigger to understand that he was going to school too so needed to wear a uniform.
Shopping for his uniform however was a little difficult, he still wears age 2-3 years trousers and all the supermarkets I had tried started their uniform range from 3-4 years. A big thank you to Yellow Days who suggested I tried Marks and Spencer, who had a great range of uniform and I managed to pick up two sets of trousers for just £8.00 and four polo shirts for £6.00, unfortunately they did not have any red sweatshirts in store so I managed to pick these up online at Tesco.
The first day
Fast forward to lunchtime today… Once we had finished eating our lunch it was time to get changed into his big boy school uniform (boy did he look cute!). Initially he wasn’t too keen on putting his coat on ready to go but then he asked if he would see Roo (he misses her so much when she is at school) and said ‘you might’.
Heading into the school gates we did in fact see Roo playing in the front playground with her friends, Tigger ran over and gave her a kiss and a cuddle. I shouted ‘come on Tigger, time for school‘, ‘OK Mummy‘ he replied and ran over to the pre-school door. We were shown to his peg, which has a space rocket on there and Tigger was very happy with that. After taking his coat off, finding his name on the board and remembering where the trains were kept he was gone… just like that ‘bye baby!‘.
I went home, sat in the dining room, popped on the radio and wondered what I was supposed to do with myself now. After looking through some of my old posts from when I returned to work after maternity leave I shed a tear or two at how much he has grown in a little over two years… time passes too quickly sometimes.
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