Another term, another parents’ evening, and an opportunity to get an objective assessment of how Isaac is progressing in his second term at school. Whereas our first parents’ evening last October was one of those leap-and-hope type affairs where we didn’t really know what to expect – he had only been at school for five weeks at that point – I think Heather and I were much more relaxed about this one, with another four months under everyone’s belts.

Sure enough, no surprises and no unexpected alarms. It was interesting to flick through Isaac’s ‘learning journey’ book, which captures photos, observations and pieces of his classwork to chronicle his progression through Foundation 2, just to get a glimpse of what he actually does in the classroom. (The only thing guaranteed to elicit a monosyllabic response from our little chatterbox is to ask him how school was today – the response is always, predictably, “fine”.) It adds so much more detail and colour than you could ever hope to cover in a 15-minute sit-down with a teacher, and it’s great to have a written record that lays out his progress so clearly.

I won’t bore you with the details of our discussion lest I drift off into a state of proudparentitis (which I inevitably would), but suffice to say he’s proving to be a very able student in terms of his reading, writing, maths and creative thinking. We have some pointers on things we can do with him at home to keep him stretched and challenged and some areas where we can help him with his social development, which keeps us as parents happy and feeling involved in contributing to his journey.

But I think the best thing of all was not being told that he’s academically fine – we knew that already – but to receive such glowing feedback about Isaac’s voracious appetite and enthusiasm. He loves school, he always tries his best and he makes an effort to apply what he has learned. (Which is why he’s always so tired in the evening – he attacks every day 100% and burns intensely at school.)

Regardless of how bright he is, as a parent of a school age child I don’t think there’s anything you can be told that can make you feel prouder than that. If he puts the effort in and gets some enjoyment out of it, I couldn’t ask for any more. Long may it continue.