Last Day of Prep

This past month had been a flurry of activities for Little Tyke – and us.

After swotting for months, he sat for his Common Entrance exams in June and once he got his results and his place at Senior School was secured for September 2023 … that’s when we got busy too!

There was Sports Day, Year 8 Performance which Little Tyke played the lead role, camping for a week in Dorset and then his class spent a day raising funds for charities of their choice.

He sure was a busy young man.

And this past Saturday, was Speech Day – the last day of school year 2023, and Little Tyke’s last day at Windlesham House School. I went along to the ceremony.

I sat very quietly on Mum’s lap or sat on the floor when every one stood up to sing ‘Jerusalem’.

And so that marked the end of Little Tyke’s prep schools days.

He is growing up so fast we can’t call him Little Tyke any more! Maybe it should be Teen Tyke from when he becomes a teenager!

May’s comment: It seems like only yesterday when we dropped Sasha off at Windlesham House School for Year 7. We were worried if he would fit in and how he would cope in a new school, in a new country, in a new environment. There were a few wobbles but he just got on with it.

Darcy was there for his first day in September 2021.

And the last time Darcy was there in January 2022 to see him start his Spring term.

The next time we went to pick him up for end of term, George took over from there.

This past Saturday marked the end of Sasha’s time at Prep school. Looking back at the photos over the last two years from when he and his friend Theo from their school in Ko Samui, Thailand to begin their new adventure.

Two years on, they are now ready for their senior schools. Sasha will be going to Oundle School and Theo will be at Winchester College. Their paths are diverting and their worlds have become much broader – away from the safety of Prep school.

When I asked Sasha how he felt, he said, ” somewhat numb”. On one hand he was relieved to have made it through two years of a steep learning curve but it also meant leaving his friends. And it marked also starting anew in September – a new school, a whole new set-up where he will start from being the lowest form and all new people to meet. He has three other friends going to the same school but they will be in different houses. As much as he was a bag of mixed emotions – so was I.

When I looked at my phone where I had the weather forecast of Pulborough (where the school is) and the alarm set to remind me to call him on weeknights, I guess it’s time to delete them and set new ones.

In August, Sasha will be a teenager … watch out world!

It’s been an honour to watch him grow emotionally, mentally and physically. He is still very sweet but signs of a teenager have raised its head! He catches me out on things – can’t gloss over things any more! We have our disagreements, but he still holds my hand when we are out walking and he is still very good at giving hugs and telling me he loves me. He said, “Because I know you care.”

The next five years will see him grow even more and at the end of his Senior School, he will emerge a man.