Olivia has been looking forward to going to school for well over a year now and yesterday, at 08.45, she finally got her wish.

Weirdly, her excitement and confidence was incredibly catching and I was actually more emotional when we’d been shopping for her school uniform a couple of weeks before.

Walking O in to her class for the first time was a very strange experience.

There was a clear divide between first-child parents and those for whom, this was all old-hat.

I wonder if this magical day only holds the magic once, and if subsequent children benefit from more confident and experienced parents.

Olivia is lucky in that her cousin (who lives just down the road from her) did all this last year, so she’s had all the stories and has been excited about it ever since.

I didn’t see any parents actually crying, nor did I see any of the kids upset either, but then I didn’t get much of a chance as Olivia quickly decided that we were cramping her style and said “Ok, go away now.”

Having been sumarily dismissed, O’s mum headed off home and I headed to the “Pine” room for a quick coffee with the PTA.

Walking into the room full of strangers all here for the same purpose made me feel just like being back at school again. Hang on…

I am so proud of my little girl being so confident and excited about going to school.

I hope it lives up to her expectations, she certainly keeps exceeding mine and reminds me just how excellent her parents must be.