Leavers Book: How To Celebrate The Last Day At School With A Photo Book
The day our kids leave school is bittersweet. On the one hand, hooray! No more early school runs or awkward meetings with headmasters. On the other hand, it’s a moment. A big moment that has a sense of sadness and gravitas.
Our school days are incredibly formative. They are the days when we learned who we really were, whilst also learning about how to hit a ball with a bat and how to say, “when’s your birthday?” in a foreign language - all very useful things. When those days are over, moving on to the next thing is a big step, and it can be quite emotional if you’re a parent. Celebrating that step, however, is the best way to remain positive.
We’ve found that one of the best ways to celebrate is through creating a “leavers” photo book. You’re bound to have a number of photos detailing the last eighteen years of your child’s life. If you gather all of these photographs together, you can create a photo book which covers their entire school experience, from the very first papier-mâché llama they made in kindergarten, right the way through to their final exam results in senior year.
With this in mind, let’s take a look at how you can create the perfect “leavers book” and what you must include to make it perfect:
The Yearbook
The first thing you need to look for is every single end-of-year class photo. This is a great way to show the growth of your child, whilst also showing the growth of their friends and schoolmates. Not only this, but including the class yearbook photos in your photo book will mean they can look back and remember all of their favourite – or perhaps least favourite – teachers! If you wanted to make a slightly minimalist photo book - such as a square photo book - then this can actually be the core theme, taking them right from the first to the last page.
The Success Stories
While you might not have their report-cards on Instagram or Facebook, it’s a good idea to include them in your photo book. This will provide a story amongst all the photographs, detailing how your child evolved, what they were good at, what they were bad at, what lessons they liked to daydream in and what lessons they were top of the class. Include as many as you can and don’t forget to look out for the funny ones! Speaking of which…
The Stories They’d Rather Forget (Fat Chance!)
Rifling through the report-cards will likely lead to a lot of funny stories that they would prefer to be forgotten. Don’t just include all of the “shiny” reports. Try to include as many as you can and don’t be afraid to make them blush a little. Remember, the leavers photo book is meant to detail their whole school experience, warts and all!
The Best Bits
Every kid is different. Some prefer sports, some prefer acting. Some prefer singing about New York and some prefer writing equations in math. Hopefully - if you’ve done your job as a parent - you’ll have taken a lot of good photos of your child doing what they love, so make sure you have a section which involves all of their best bits!
The Prom
When you start drawing near the end of your photo book, make sure to round it off with a load of prom photographs. Your kid has been waiting for the prom since their school journey began. There’ll be a load of photographs on social media that you can use, so take a good look around and choose the very best ones!
The Side-By-Side
Before jumping ahead of yourself with a photo book maker, make sure to take a picture before they head off on their last day of school. Then, when your photo book is close to completion, you can place this picture alongside the photograph you took on their very first day of school. FUN CHALLENGE: try not to get emotional whilst doing this one. Seriously, it’s impossible.
The Future…
Lastly, once all that emotional stuff is done, it’s time to put on a happy face and look towards the future. If your kid is going to college, include a picture of their acceptance letter on the very last page. If they are not going to college, then use that last page for a little message. This can be as simple as: “now for the journey yet to come…”. Think of something that comes from the heart and try to make it as inspirational as you can. Remember, your kid is probably just as emotional and scared as you are about the future. It’s important to make sure that - just as you were there from their first day at school to their last - they know that you’re still behind them every step of the way.
