The End of an Era

 Today is Alex's last day of Primary School - where have the last 7 years gone?!  On Wednesday a special surprise was organised for a group of the Year 6 children - a ride in a stretch Hummer!  It was a lot of fun, but as you can see from the photos, rather hot and sweaty.  And VERY loud!  Glad I wasn't stuck in there with them, my ear drums wouldn't have coped.

This morning was a special leavers' assembly, which the children organised with the help of the teachers.  There wasn't a dry eye in the school hall by the end of the assembly.  Alex started crying after the sketch he performed, and hadn't stopped by the time I had gone home.  He was smiling, laughing and singing through the tears though.

One of the classroom assistants is also a photographer, and has been working with the children since they were in Year 1.  She had kept all the photos on her hard drive so that once the children reached Year 6 she could make a montage to show on the screen at the front of the hall.  Well you can imagine how emotional we all got, seeing the photos of them growing up into such amazing children. 

Primary school has been an interesting experience for Alex.  The photos from Year 1 showed an Alex that had disappeared for several years.  We think (looking back at how he was affected), that he developed Coelaic Disease when he was about 6.  So the first photos on the screen were a happy, smiley boy, small and slim but with round, rosy cheeks.  Then he started to get thinner and thinner, and more and more unhappy.  He struggled with school work, concentration, anger/frustration and depression as well as stomach aches from the age of 6 until he was diagnosed with coelaic disease last summer.

A year on from his diagnosis, and almost a year of living totally gluten free, and again we see the happy, confident boy who finds school work so much easier.  His sense of humour, empathy and intelligence are shining through again.  It's wonderful to see the real Alex able to shine through at last, not held back by the horrible medical condition that caused him so much pain.

Thank you to the teachers, especially Miss Parker, for being able to see his potential, and helping him to have the confidence to know he can do anything he puts his mind to. 

Now we look forward to a new future - healthy and happy.