Moving On

Today was Ethan's last day at primary school and I attended the Leavers Assembly at the village church along with the other year six parents.  The great thing about living in a village with a school close to the church is that we get to sit in a beautiful chapel with vaulted ceilings and stained glass windows!  The assembly is an opportunity for the school children and teachers to celebrate the achievements of the year six pupils and to wish them well in their secondary school.  Here is a bad shot between the heads of many parents of Ethan collecting his dictionary and mug from his teacher:

A big part of the assembly is for each year group in the school to sing a special goodbye song to the year six children.  Now, I am not known for being a teary person but that all goes out of the window when I listen to a piece of music that hits the right spot.  Today that was when the year four children (including Rosie!) sang 'Greatest Day' by Take That.  These lines were the ones that set me off:

Today this could be the greatest day of our lives

Let's make a new start, the future is ours to find

Can you see it?  Can you see in in my eyes?

Can you feel it now?  Can you hold it in your arms?

Oh, stay close to me, stay close to me

Watch the world come alive tonight

Stay close to me

Hold your head high, arms open wide

And the world starts to come alive

When you stay close to me

For me it summed up the children moving on, growing up and embracing the world, but wanting to stay close to watch their journey.  I don't think there was a dry eye in the church, teachers included!  Here's the band's video of the song:

I thought I was safe after that incident, but the assembly concluded with the school song 'World In Union'.... you should check those lyrics out too, it was a total blubfest!

From now on I only have two children left at St Michael's, Ethan will be joining his big brother at Teign School in September.  When did they get so grown up?