I sure do.

And as parents across the region breathe a collective sigh of relief now school has gone back, I have been reminded of my own school years this week.

Told a million times they would be the ‘happiest days of my life’, it is not until recently I have come to give those words any credence at all.

I certainly don’t recall being happy on my first day at the local primary school.

Clinging to my mother’s leg I remember begging her not to go.

It’s understandable, I suppose.

Starting year one is an emotional time.

It was when I was still howling on the first day of school 10 years later things got a bit embarrassing.

I remember writing a note to my teacher in year one in a bid to get out of sports.

My mum still has the note.

It reads, ‘Dear Mrs Carr, Kate cart run today, sined Mrs Hedley’.

Needless to say Mrs Carr had me running, and to this day still does.

I spot her on occasion at the local shops and my first impulse is always to make for the nearest exit.

I’m still embarrassed every time I see her.

Another teacher I remember fondly was the one who used to show up to work in her nightie.

And if you went to Mandurah Primary School any time during the 70s and early 80s you will know exactly who I mean.

Mrs Johansen – you were, and still are, one in a million.

It was at school I had my first crush on a boy, my first boyfriend and my first kiss.

But it was books that became my first true love.

And for this, I have Miss Adam to thank.

Of all the things I remember learning during primary school, it was reading and writing in her class that I recall most fondly.

She brought stories to life and fostered a life-long appreciation of the written word that has never left me.

Miss Adam’s influence could well be a major reason I chose to write for a living.

I was certainly never going to be a runner, was I, Mrs Carr?