Do you remember your first day at school?

Paddy Cow

I do. My Mum had just given birth to my sister on August 31st so she was still in the hospital when I would have been starting school. She didn't know if she should send me or not while she wasn't there but she was afraid that if she left it until she and the baby came home and then sent me to school, I would feel like I was being pushed out because of the new baby.

It was decided that I would start school as normal and I was fine with this. My uncle Paddy came to bring me to school and everything went well until it was time to go. I remember throwing the biggest tantrum (can't remember why ) and insisted that I wasn't going. Uncle Paddy simply picked me up, kicking and screaming and headed out the door. I can even remember grabbing onto the door jams lol.

I was put in the car and driven to school, still having a tantrum. When we got to the school it turned out that one of the kids in my class was wearing the same coat as me and this caught my attention and my tantrum was forgotton about. I had a great day and was full of chat about it on the way home.

When my mother asked my uncle how I got on he told her I was grand and it was only years later she found out the truth lol. To be honest it did me no harm. I don't have many memories from that age (4) but this one stood out.

Does anyone else remember their first day?

Hector Bellend

No. Though having said that. I still couldn't speak irish on my last day of school

jamesbere

Yes strangely I do considering I remember barely any of the rest of my early years in school.

My aunt was a teacher there so I remember her showing me around and introducing me to the rest of the class

Oops!

I do, my mother was my first teacher! Kept calling her mammy instead of miss for a good while!

Noveight

Yes, first time I ever met someone with the same first name as mine, a steep learning curve

Surprisingly yes because I can barely remember this morning. 1993. Was part of a herd that was ushered into a pen, was given a Capri Sun to keep me happy and off I went. Fast forward to 2007 when I left the herd and was given a can of Bulmers to keep me happy and off I went.

r93kaey5p2izun

Yes. I was very excited about it. I remember the girl I sat beside. We played with straws that you build with using plastic connectors. I accidently poked a teacher (not my class teacher - in hindsight I think she was a resource teacher) in the eye and got upset about it. I loved my class teacher and still think very fondly of her.

I met her in the supermarket last year and she remembered me. She said it was her first time teaching infants having previously taught 5th and 6th for years and it was a shock to the system having 43 little ones to look after. She was disappointed to hear I'm a teacher (post primary) now.

Shpudnik

It was only 12 years ago and I still can't remember it.

freshpopcorn

I remember bits of the first week! Twenty years ago in September.

vegetables

Can't remember last week.

Don't understand people who can say things like 'when I was 9'.

The idea that people not only remember the event but remember their age sounds very strange to me.

DontThankMe

Yes everyone kept on thanking me it was horrible.

Poor Uncle Tom

Yup, first time I skipped a class as well, first day and I was automatically in seniors....... thought I had school nailed until mother called me for day two...

Icemancometh

The only thing I remember is a couple of kids crying, and thinking should I be crying as well?

Subcomandante Marcos

No, but I remember my first day back after missing a lot of school when I was in junior infants because I was very ill.
On my first day back I was supposed to be in my old class, but I was really anxious for some reason and instead they put me in the same class as my best friend who was a year ahead of me for the first few weeks so that I could sit beside him until I was settled back into the routine.

First day back We were doing the Irish and math class work in the morning and eating fruit on a break and did some colouring in the afternoon before going home. The eventually just left me in that class because I was able for it and i essentially skipped a year of school as a result.

Robsweezie

not the first, but the 2nd/3rd/4th day when i had a meltdown outside before going in. my da was bringing me up to the yellow door in the prefab when i broke down in tears and wanted to go home. my problem was that ''the class took too long''. i remember saying that while whimpering to my da and the teacher, who promised me it wouldnt be too long.

when undergoing life changes, i still feel like that boy sometimes. going into the unknown and uncertain.

school at that age can be a big adjustment. i think preschool and playschool, Montessori and creches are a great thing to get a kid ready for it somewhat.

AllForIt

I do. I distinctly remember the day before and asking my mom if I was really going to school tomorrow. I remember I wore a pair of shorts on my first day. I also remember being given a copybook. I remember lots of things from when I was very young. I remember being in the cot I used to sleep in. I remember being strapped into a baby chair. My mother had to tie it to the leg of a table because I used to bounce up and down in it which would make the chair move across the floor. I remember my first xmas present which was a toy lorry that would make clicking noises when moved across the floor. I remember my Dad broke the clicking mechanism because it was driving him mad and was disappointed it didn't work anymore.

vegetables

vegetables wrote: »

Can't remember last week.

Don't understand people who can say things like 'when I was 9'.

The idea that people not only remember the event but remember their age sounds very strange to me.

Significant events maybe? I also remember going into GAME in 1996 to buy my Sega Megadrive with my communion money. Seems ridiculous now but the memory is there. I remember and I always will remember where I was for 9/11. Was 12 at the time. I remember taking a call from my mothers cousin who I didn't know and still don't know really to say my mothers last surviving aunt had died while my parents were abroad. I was 11. I remember said aunt (or my gran aunt) giving me £20 for my communion in 1996 which funded previously mentioned Sega. I remember my sister getting a welcome home from the people in my estate that sports teams get after she made a miraculous recovery from a life threatening brain injury in 1994. I can actually remember the drive home from the hospital in Cork to Limerick. I was 5. Plenty more too. Some memories just stay with you.

Arghus

I remember being shocked at how different it seemed from The Wonder Years. No lockers? What kind of a place is this...

The Backwards Man

I was dragged in by my Mum kicking and screaming, the headmaster confiscated my A-Team lunchbox and I shat myself at my desk.


Yep, I knew right then that teaching wasn't the career for me.

AllGunsBlazing

Vividly. I even remember The Police song, 'Don't Stand So Close To Me' playing on the radio as I ate my weetabix for breakfast that morning.

Shpudnik

AllGunsBlazing wrote: »

Vividly. I even remember The Police song, 'Don't Stand So Close To Me' playing on the radio as I ate my weetabix for breakfast that morning.

Weetabix huh? You must have been ready and gone in all guns blazing.

JupiterKid

Yes I do. It was Sept 1979, probably before 85% of Boardsies were even conceived lol! My Dad took a few photos of me standing in front of the house in my new school uniform.

I think I might have cried a little bit. The kindergarten teacher - Ms Larkin - was nice but firm. The classroom had brightly coloured hexagonal shaped desks that a few children sat around. We each got a sweet from a big plastic jar when going home.

I remember when going to, and coming back from the toilet, I would walk around every desk in a circutitious route before sitting down at my own. This had the teacher exasperated!!

_Brian

Remember small bits of my first day, 40 years ago this September. Remember me and my best friend and our mams walking behind us up into the school and classroom.

First year at school was fine, but seniors and first class was spent being hammered for writing with my left hand because that was straight from the devil. My handwriting has never recovered and am quite embarrassed by it.

Sam Kade

I remember it way back in 1968.

Nervous Wreck

Yep. I made a break for it and when the teacher tried to stop me, I kicked her in the shin. Made it all the way to the front yard!

osarusan

No.

I didn't go to kindergarten or playschool, just went straight into junior infants.

i have no memory of it, but apparently I fell and whacked my head of the corner of a table and got a black eye. This was at a time where corporal punishment, whether legal or not, was still happening, and when I came out of school with a big bruise, my mother charged into the classroom and the teacher was frantically explaining how I fell, before she ended up with a black eye too.

IvyTheTerrible

Yes I do! Our National School was fairly new back in 1984, and we still hadn't a uniform. I remember wearing a matching t shirt and skirt. Mum wanted to accompany me to the class, but I insisted I was a big girl and only let her come as far as the gate! One boy fell asleep at school, I thought that was funny. I loved my teacher Mrs Pettit, I was lucky to have her in 6th class too.

razorblunt

If we're talking first day of school at 5 years old, no, though I do have memories of events at school that year and even incidents in Nursery the year before. I definitely do remember the "new pencil case" smell though!

I remember the first day of 2nd Class though, it was before the year ended in 1st Class, we were brought up to the new school, where lads from a neighbouring school were already there in their black jumpers and we rocked in, in our blue jumpers. It was like War of the Buttons stuff. We had to sit with someone from that school and 10 minutes later we were all friends.
The 1st day back in September my friend broke down and started crying at 9:05am and cried for his Mam, he then managed to break free of the Principal and teacher and run out the door. Last we saw of him that day was the top of his head sprinting past the window and the teacher running after him. He was allowed home and came back the next day as if nothing happened.
We still take the pish out of him to this day for it.

valoren

September 1985. Had to be dragged from my Dad's arms. Thought I was being taken 'away'. Calmed down after that.

boardsuser1

Remember it fairly well unusually.

03/09/1990. I was 5.

spurious

Yes. 1967. I got sat in a group called 'The Apples', a girl called Louise pinched me and the nun gave me a strawberry Roses.

big syke

Yep - stabbed below the eye with a pencil. Still have the lead mark - no lie

True story

scarepanda

I do!!! And I'm never let forget it!

At one of the breaks the whole school was out the front in the playground. There was what was known as the teachers garden beside said playground. I ended up going into the garden, not realising that it was off limits! After a few minutes older students, a mixture of neighbours and my parents friends kids, may be 5 or 6 in total came up into the garden after me to get me down before I got into trouble. But I thought they had come up to play so I started a game of chance around the centre flower bed. Next thing I remember I was hiding in the corner where there was a gap in the bushes with everyone in front of me trying to grab me to bring me down. I have a vague memory of people holding my legs and arms and carrying me off the garden, at this stage I was crying! That morning I kicked my new teacher, the new principle and the local priest!

Mam and dad were gone up a hospital appointment in Dublin and didn't know what was going on - 1991 so no mobiles etc. That evening they said that they got a load of calls from people asking how I was and giving advice on how to get me to school the next morning. I just walked in like nothing had ever happened!

I love Sean nos

I remember bits of it. It was in May 1979. There was a fear back then that the government were going to raise the school entry age, so plenty of children were enrolled as soon as they turned 4. I was brought as soon as I'd had my 4th birthday, even though the school year was almost over.

I remember no one explaining to me what was going on. My Da brought me into a strange building and a strange room, filled with other children and then walked off. I stood just inside the door for a bit until the teacher brought me to a seat.

seamus

From what I've seen, most people remember the first day or at least parts of it. I don't recall being nervous or anything. I remember going in and being told where to sit, it was beside a girl whose name I still remember. Six years later she became my first girlfriend and shortest relationship at a whopping 24 hours. 8 years later we happened to do the same course in college, though I was a very quiet/shy young adult, I didn't speak to her much.

I was a very independent kid and not very attached, so there weren't any tantrums or running out the door for me.

My first is starting this September, and it's all much more structured now. They're the only kids in the school for the first 2 days, and both days are only two hours long. Parents aren't allowed near the classroom, you've leave them in the playground, but there's cake and tea on in the hall for them to hang around and chat (and presumably be on hand for kids making a break for it)

foxy farmer

Remember? Will I ever forgeh! It might be 40 yrs but I remember a particular day in playschool (teachers own house )where I got a dose of the trots. Teacher had to deal with the mess and had to give me a change of socks (red ones:) )I remember one of the first days in national school where a bunch of us sitting at a table. One lad who was a friend amd neighbour was bawling. He pulled out a bottle of orange out of his bag put it on the table and went to drink it. Teacher spotted him calmly tried to stop him and all hell broke loose. Cue wailing a banshee would be proud of. Same lad died about 4 weeks ago in his mid 40s .
RIP Barry.
I could list who were in my class in junior infants
I remember a few other events from early years. Lads having toilet accidents. Lads leaving as family were moving away. The principal coming in with the silver paint tin of sweets bulls eyes clove rock.
Going into the new class every year was a very emotional affair for me. Plenty tears. Fast forward to today and I'm as hard as nails and don't get phased by anything.

razorblunt

Another poster mentioned the getting photos taken by your parents on the day itself too. My Dad used to do this every year until I was about 10. Thing is he'd wait until the roll was done to get it developed which could be a month or 6 weeks after, meaning the "photo to show the grandparents" was a waste of time as they'd seen me every Mon-Fri in the meantime.

I get the concept now with mobile phones and the customary "stand your kid in front of a door day on Facebook".

_Roz_

I have a few memories from Junior Infants, but I don't remember my first day, no. I feel like I would have been a bundle of nerves and anxiety, but I don't think I'd had sufficient experience with people for that to develop at that point, because I'm pretty sure my mum has said before that I shooed her away.

houlihand

barely but i know it was ****e

Lia_lia

I went to nursery school in England. Can't remember the first day of that as I was probably 2 or 3. My first day of play school in France was memorable because I couldn't speak the language! I remember trying to speak to the teachers in English and they didn't have a word of it. Went onto primary in the same school. First day of school in Ireland I can't remember at all. I do remember feeling like the weird "foreign" kid though!

suicide_circus

The year was 1989. Kylie and Jason were dominating the charts. Chip 'n' Dale Rescue Rangers had just hit our screens. Italia 90 was just round the corner. And I bawled my eyes out at being abandoned in this large building surrounding by strangers.

s15r330

30 years ago this September, I was sitting in the room. Sat down beside this lad and we exchanged names and are friends ever since.
I had a Zig and Zag copy and I remember a girl being carried in by her dad and she screamed the place down, snot and tears running down her face.

mad muffin

I don't remember the first day. I don't remember the last day or anything in between. I don't remember my teachers and most of the people I ever went to school with. We had our 25 year school reunion the other day and I couldn't name 99% of the people I finished high school with.

Lollipops23

September 1992, having turned 5 at the end of that August.

I remember being late and the class were already seated when I rocked up with the Mammy. Turns out she had been dawdling in the garden as she was putting off the "moment" of bringing me in. Turned around to say bye and she'd already scarpered! Apparently the principal had warned parents not to hang around and to leg it before we copped what was happening. I wasn't bothered and there were no tears, as I'd been in creche and montessori since I could remember.

retro:electro

Yes I remember telling another girl that she has loads of snots up her nose and asking her why didn't she pick them out.

AidanadiA

I can remember lunch break on the first day vividly.
We had all been told the rules, sit in your chair, fingers on lips, speak only when spoken to and hand up to ask a question.
I was such a goody goody, that that's just what I did. When our teacher went to talk to another teacher at the door my cousin stood up went to the sandbox (at the front of the teacher's desk). She proceeded to pour the sand into the teachers sandwich sat on her desk. The teacher wasn't even back at her chair and I had my hand up to tell on her. I was thusly dubbed a rat and no one wanted to play me with since I threw my own cousin into the bold corner for the whole of lunch.

MilesMorales1

Nope. The only memories of school I have before a certain age are the christmas parties we had towards the end of the term.

My first day of primary school there was a Indian girl in my class. It was probably the first time I'd met a child with different coloured skin than mine. She was beautiful and I remember desperately wanting to be her friend but too shy to talk to her.

Started in a new school sometime during senior infants and I remember the teacher telling another child to show me where to sit. She asked me what age I was because baby infants and senior infants shared the classroom. When I told her my age , she answered "oh you're in senior infants, like me!" and I don't know why but I felt proud about that.

Started a new school again in 5th class, my first ever all girls school and I remember it felt like walking into a whole other world. They were all so sensitive and boring. On the break they all stood around playing those clapping hands while you sing type games and I didn't know how to join in. You weren't allowed to run. There was mass hysteria when someone saw a wasp and I was just looking around for a football or something fun.

On day two in that school one of the girls loudly informed me that her mother said she wasn't to be friends with me. I had mentioned I was friends with some... God forbid.. boys!!! So I was an unsuitable companion. It actually really hurt my little feelings.

branie2

My mother dropped me off on my first day and I got the bus home