First day at school

                                            My First Day At School





Mammy dressed me early that morning.  No uniform for the first day so I was wearing my favourite yellow dress with white spots, that I loved.  It was a beautiful autumn morning as we walked towards the school.  I had a little brown leather school bag, and in it was my lunch, a copybook and various pencils and crayons, untouched as yet.



Mam had told me that I was starting school that day, and that I was a big girl now, but the enormity of the event hadn't quite registered with me at all.  We reached the school where throngs of little girls and their mothers congregated, the mothers gossiping and the children talking shyly to each other.



In the door of the school we went and suddenly the autumn sunshine was gone and all was dim and gloomy. Green walls, tiled corridors and the scent of children, chalk and a faint aroma of disinfectant assaulted my tender nose.  We reached the classroom, and as we stood at the door, I found myself holding my mother's hand a little more tightly.



Little girls were sitting inside at their miniature desks and as I watched, a young woman approached us, introducing herself as my teacher.  She showed me to a seat and I sat down, placing my school bag carefully on the floor beside me.



Mam spoke quietly to the teacher for a little while and then to my horror, she waved at me and left, the teacher closing the door firmly behind her.  This was not what I had imagined at all!  I had never spent any time away from Mam in my brief 4 years and I suddenly realised what being a big girl meant.  Big girls don't get to be with Mammy all day.  They have to come here, to the unfamiliar.I made an attempt to go after Mammy but teacher stopped me and I had to sit down again.  As I felt the tears flow down my chubby cheeks, I thought, I don't want to be a big girl after all.



                                      Julieanne from Cork in Ireland