A personal blog post for a change!

Last week we celebrated my eldest's pre-school graduation - he has now left his fabulous nursery in Tooting Bec and in September he'll make the move to "big school" in Balham.

The nursery held a very sweet leavers' celebration for all the pre-reception children, with family and friends invited to watch. The children stood on stage and sang beautifully "You are my sunshine" and Bruno Mars "You can count on me", and each child was presented with a certificate for something they excelled at during the year. For my son, this was for being the dinosaur expert, which is totally appropriate as he always amazes me at how many facts he is able to retain and how many unusual dinosaur names he can remember! For others it was celebrating their kindness, or their sporting prowess, their artistic abilities, or simply how great a friend they are. What a joyful end to the school year.

My personal highlight of the ceremony was listening to the children tell the audience what they'd like to be when they grow up, and I must admit there were tears shed when my little boy announced to the whole room that he wanted to be "a daddy" ... not a footballer, fire-fighter or pilot, simply a daddy. What a gorgeous moment - my husband and I were both very proud!

After the ceremony the whole nursery gathered on the field for a picnic and outdoor play, to celebrate the end of term and send off the pre-reception children in style.

I spent most of the picnic running a drop-in photoshoot, a nursery graduation "mini" photoshoot for each child, taking photos of the pre-reception children in their green graduation gowns and caps, which I'd purchased to match the nursery colour scheme, along with homemade scrolls. They were a delight to photograph and really got into the spirit of graduation, particularly enjoying throwing the cap into the air with gusto. At only 4 years old they don't have a very long attention span, which meant I had to work quickly to get the shots before they were distracted with something more interesting like ice cream or the rope swing!

It's fair to say their parents are delighted with the results and how I've captured their children's cheeky personalities. The nursery graduation photographs will be memories they will treasure forever - what an amazing job I have!