The end of an era: My youngest has left education!

There we have it. My youngest has left full time education. Well, it was last week actually but I spent the weekend trying to take it in that my baby is no longer a student. For the last sixteen and a half years, education has been a huge part of Ellie's life with school runs, packed lunches, parents evenings, school trips, homework battles, uniform shopping, exam stress, college assignments and everything in between. It has been our normal for so long that I can't quite imagine what life will look like without it but here we are!

It only seems like yesterday that Ellie was a tiny little girl clutching my hand as we walked into nursery for the first time, well, clutching my hand going through the gate and then running into the classroom. She loved nursery! Ellie was born right at the end of August, making her the youngest in her year group all the way through school. To put it into perspective, Ellie had just turned three when she started nursery in September, while some of the children in her year group were turning four only days later. Some of the children looked so grown up compared to her and there was my tiny little girl trying to keep up.

Looking back, Ellie didn't exactly have the easiest journey through education. Her primary school years were tough. Anyone who has followed my blog for a long time will probably remember some of the posts I wrote years ago about the bullying Ellie experienced, this post has links to a few of them. Kids can be so mean. It was one of the hardest things to watch as a parent. There were many tears, mostly from me, difficult conversations and lots of sleepless nights where I worried about what the next school day would bring. As parents, we spend years teaching our children to be kind and thoughtful, so it can be heart breaking when other children don't show those same qualities. The bullying seemed to follow Ellie through much of primary school and it knocked her confidence massively.

During her final year of primary school, when Ellie was around ten years old, one of her teachers thought that she might be autistic. Eventually, it became clear that autism wasn't the issue and Ellie was diagnosed with social anxiety. Considering everything she had experienced, it wasn't surprising. When you've spent years being bullied, it chips away at your confidence little by little but despite everything, Ellie kept going.

It wasn't all bad though. One thing that always makes me smile when I think back is that Ellie has always got on better with boys than girls. She had a little group of boys that were her best friends. There were also plenty of happy memories. Her teachers absolutely adored her. She was never the child who loved sitting quietly writing pages and pages of work. She has always been someone who prefers doing things. As soon as she got to do something practical, creative or hands on and she was in her element. There was the year she built a model of Hadrian's Wall and one of the Roman forts. I think it was in Year 4. She put so much effort into it and ended up having it displayed in the school library for months afterwards.

Then there were the World War Two biscuits she made at home. Those sorts of projects were always right up her street, she loved being hands-on, creating things. She also joined the school choir and absolutely loved taking part in school productions and performed in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat and later in Beauty and the Beast. They seemed to give her so much confidence. She also played in the school band playing the trombone!

Then came secondary school. The first year wasn't easy because the bullying problems reappeared and Ellie hated pretty much every moment she spent at that school but then we moved house and Ellie changed schools and that changed everything! Ellie started her new school at the beginning of Year 8 and the difference was incredible! She was genuinely happy, made friends, was accepted and that year was probably the first time she truly understood why people say that school days are the happiest days of your life.

In 2020 everything changed again when Covid arrived. Our lives turned upside down, schools closed, lessons moved online and our normal lives stopped. Home learning wasn't exactly Ellie's favourite thing and that's probably putting it politely. I can laugh about it now but at the time it was frustrating. The biggest battle was getting her to turn her camera on during Zoom lessons. She refused but her teachers were incredibly understanding because I don't think we were the only family having those sorts of struggles. At one point, it felt as though Ellie had taken a step backwards with all the progress she had made. The confidence she'd built seemed to drain from her and I worried about how she would cope when schools reopened but all the worry was for nothing. As soon as the school reopened, she settled straight back in. Phew!

We always joked that Ellie never actually got a full secondary school experience. When we moved house, she finished year 7 a couple of weeks early, then Covid with the lockdowns, meant she didn't have much in year 8, 9 and 10 and in her last year in year 11 she finished early because of exams but despite all of that, she thrived. She found her voice, became more independent and learned who she was. When GCSE results day arrived, I don't think any of us quite knew what to expect. Ellie had worked hard but she'd also had so many disruptions but the results surprised us all. She did brilliantly. The last part of secondary school really showed us the young woman Ellie was becoming because on Prom Day she dressed up in not the typical prom dress, made a grand entrance and owned who she was.

After school came college. Just after turning sixteen, Ellie started an Electrical Engineering course. I don't think many people expected her to choose that path but it suited her perfectly. Engineering made complete sense and she loved it, especially the practical side. Whenever she talked about college, it was always the workshop sessions she was most excited about. She loved the wiring, the hands-on work and doing things instead of sitting in a classroom all day!

Life wasn't completely straightforward. Towards the end of her first year at college, Ellie went through some really difficult things. They were some of the hardest experiences we've faced as a family and Ellie handled them far better than I did. There were moments when I looked at her and realised she wasn't a little girl any more. In her third year at college, she decided to move onto a more general engineering course and has now passed with flying colours.

And that's it. No more school, college, no more buying stationery every September, no more waiting for exam results, educational milestones and it is a strange feeling. Part of me is excited for Ellie, she has her whole future ahead of her, part of me is so proud of everything that she has achieved and part of me is wondering how all these years have disappeared so quickly.

When I look back at everything Ellie has faced throughout her education, I think it would have been easy for her to give up but she has never stopped moving forward. Those challenges have helped shape the person she is today. They made her stronger, more determined and now she is a confident, caring and capable young woman who is standing here today with her head held high. I don't think I could be any prouder!