Hey Mummy, I’m worried about starting big school. Can you help me?

Hey Mummy,

I know I am a big preschooler now who can even write my own name (well, my ‘e’ looks more like a snail, which is so cool!), but I don’t know if I am ready to leave kindy just yet.

You see, I finally feel at home there and I know it took me a while. All my friends know me and I know them. I love my teachers and I don’t even miss you much anymore when I’m there. I’m also one of the oldest kids and so I know what to do. The little ones in the toddler and baby rooms are still learning. Not me though. I am the big fish here. 

But I am starting big school next year and soon I will be a little fish again. I do want to learn more stuff (and how to write more letters), wear a uniform the same as my friends and eat from a lunch box, but I also feel unsure about a few things. I have lots of questions.

Maybe if I tell you, you’ll make me feel better about it? Like you and Daddy always do, about everything. 

So OK, here’s what’s on my mind …

I’m worried I won’t have someone to sit next to

At kindy, I have three best friends. But at school, I won’t have them because they are going to a different school. So who will sit next to me when I do my worksheets or eat my lunch outside?

I know you keep inviting the two boys in our street over for plays, so are they my new best friends? Will they be going to ‘my’ school too? And do they also like playing pirates? Yes Mummy, I know you always tell me that, “everyone is everyone’s best friend” and I know it’s good to make friends with ALL the children, but I need to know I have some buddies who also like pirates, or if not pirates then Paw Patrol, Lego or at least running really, really fast. Then they will be ‘my’ friends.

So can you just tell me if these boys are going to school with me? Then I will ask them to sit next to me.

I want you to come with me

Mummy, can you please come to school with me? There is so much I don’t know. Like where the toilets are and what do I do if I need to go in the middle of class? Oh, and what happens if I have an accident and wet my pants? I won’t have anyone to help me – or will I? These are some of the things I need you to explain to me before I start.  

I really just want you to come with me though. I think it would be so much fun if you could! I wouldn’t be worried about anything then and I would have all my new friends to play with.

But I know you’ve said, “school isn’t for Mummies”. So Mummy, if you can’t stay there with me, can you please answer all of my questions about it? Even the silly ones and the ones I can’t think of myself right now.

Also … 

Can we go to school now?

I can’t wait to go to the ‘official’ school visits and see my classroom and where the bubblers are (I LOVE bubblers!). But I think I might also like to go there a few more times, too. Can we play there when all the school children are on holidays? That way I will know where all the classrooms are, where the toilets are, where I have to line up in the morning and where I will eat my lunch with my best friends. If I know this, then I won’t get lost. I’m a bit worried about getting lost.

The school playground also looks so much fun! That climbing frame! Ooh, I can’t wait to play pirates on it. You could be the ship captain, Mummy! Or I know, maybe we can ask Matty up the road to come with us to the school too and have a play? He’ll like being there with me and learning where everything is. 

I want a really, really cool lunch box

I know I get to take a lunch box to school – yay, I love them! But Mummy, can we please buy me a cool one? Maybe one with Spiderman on it or Marshal from Paw Patrol – he’s my favourite. I want a cool one because I really want my friends to like it. We’ll talk about it when we eat lunch and I will see what they get packed in their lunch box. This is very important to me. Maybe we can shop for it together and I can choose it, as well a new drink bottle and pencil case. I am so excited!

So Mummy, I know I’ll have lots of questions about starting school. I also know you are also feeling a little worried too – I can read you, even when you smile to hide how you are really feeling – but I will be fine. I just need a bit of a heads up, that’s all.

Thanks, Mummy and Daddy. 

Your soon-to-be school kid x