3.1 From home to school

We probably all vividly remember our first day at primary school. The case study below introduces you to Lowri and her memories of her first day at school.

Case study: Lowri’s first day at primary school

Figure 6 Lowri in her new school uniform

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A handwritten page pulled from a lined notebook has 15 lines of writing in black ink.

The first line on the page is the heading of ‘Laura William My first day at school’. The rest of the page reads as follows.

‘I was 4 years old My mum took me to school I felt very nervous and home sick. My teachers name was mrs little wood, she had brown short hair and looked friendly. She said “Laura sit here next to cara” This is my friend cara who I had to sit next to and I’m still friends with her.

I still remember the first lesson and it was art, we had to draw ourselves. In my painting I am wearing my school uniform for the first time, suddenly it was lunch time and I ate my pack lunch in the class room, when I first started school there was no school dinners but in year 1 on there was school dinners. I started’

Figure 6 Lowri in her new school uniform

Lowri is 11. She looks back on her experiences of her first important transition from home to school. This was firstly a horizontal transition, as it involved a physical move literally from one place to another. But it was also a vertical transition, as it involved a change of experience, a moving ‘up’ into primary school.

In Figure 7, Lowri remembers her first day at school and the feelings she had about being left in a strange setting. Her teacher played an important role in making the transition easier for Lowri. The detail with which she remembers the day shows how memorable the experience was to a young child of 4.

7 Lowri’s story

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This is part of a story handwritten by Lowri. It reads as follows:

Lowri Williams My first day at school

I was 4 years old my mum took me to school I felt very nervous and home sick. My teachers name was mrs little wood, she had brown short hair and looked friendly. She said “Lowri sit here next to Siân” This is my friend Siân who I had to sit next to and I’m still friends with her.

I still remember the first lesson and it was art, we had to draw ourselves. In my painting I am wearing my school uniform for the first time, suddenly it was lunch time and I ate my pack lunch in the class room, when I first started school there was no school dinners but in year 1 on there was school dinners. I started

7 Lowri’s story

For young children, the vertical transition from home to school will most likely also involve a change in carer, such as from mother to teacher. For older children, the move from primary to secondary school will also involve changes in routine, such as having to move around the school to different classrooms for all the different subjects being studied. For many children, moving to secondary school can mean a further change in friendship groups, as children are often allocated to different schools depending on catchment areas or by parental choice.

Activity 6 asks you to identify and reflect on transitions in your early life.