The end of an era

Well here we are, about to begin the second week of the summer holidays and already primary school is a distant memory. For those of you not in the know, 'A' finished her final year of primary school on Friday 22^nd July and will be off to much scarier (well, to me anyway) High School come September. The last few weeks of term went by in a blur. We performed our usual summer concert with the school choir back in June and as ever this was a hit with the kids and the parents and even took our ladies choir in for an impromptu assembly performance. 'A' and the rest of year 6 shortly after, started work on their final school show which this year was to be 'Gel'. They performed the show over two nights and 'A' played Mrs Fletcher, a bit of a busy body come tea lady! She had to wear rollers in her hair and her Grandma's slippers but she loved every minute of it. The show was a roaring success and really showcased some new talents that we'd not had a chance to see before.

Last day of term came and went and surprisingly, not a tear was shed in the Griffiths household by Mother or Daughter. The usual traumatic leavers' assembly had been replaced by a more upbeat celebration of the children's time at primary school and although there were a few weepy souls there was not the usual flood of tears that has a kind of domino effect. Even the end of school bell went by without too much trauma. 'A' came out of school with a shirt full of signatures and couldn't wait to put her new found independence into action by heading off to the chip shop with friends (an essential trip that had been planned by the year 6's for a few day's and which we had no choice but to agree to!).

I did wonder if the fact that she'd actually left primary school and a whole chapter of her life behind, would kick in sometime during the first weeks of the holiday, but I can honestly it hasn't. I think the fact of the matter is, she's just ready to move on. If you'd have asked me this time last year I would have said, "she's still my little girl and will never be ready for high school in a years' time". However, she is and I can't believe the change in her over 12 months. Yes, she's still incredibly half soaked at times and has the memory capacity of a tea strainer but she has matured no end and I feel is really ready for the challenge of 'big' school. Whether I'll still be saying that in the Autumn when she's having friendship issues, detention for being late and not handing her homework in on time, remains to be seen! ;) Personally,  think the whole process was easier for me, knowing that I would be returning to the school again in September to continue with school choir.  It won't be quite the same though without my own lovely girl being there each week.  I'm sure she'll drop in from time to time though, should her busy extra curricular school life allow!

[caption id="attachment_971" align="alignleft" width="189" caption="First day at primary school"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_972" align="alignright" width="97" caption="Last day at primary school"][/caption]

Where did those 6 years go?