She is, of course, going to the school's nursery at the moment, which is just steps away from reception, but in terms of emotions it could be miles.

My daughter is exceptionally close to her nursery teacher, Ann – so much so that when Ann is due to have a rare day off she has to tell me first so that I can prepare my daughter well in advance.

Every morning the first thing she looks for is her beloved teacher, and won't leave my side until she is safely with her, sharing stories and news.

My daughter even makes Ann a variety of crafts each week – often as soon as she wakes up at 5.30am – and has even been known to present me with a beautiful creation, only to change her mind at the last minute.

"Sorry mummy, that's not for you after all," she'll say. "It's so beautiful that I've decided to give it to Ann."

So although she likes the idea of being a big girl at big school, she often asks me if Ann can still be her teacher. When I tell her that she'll have to have a new teacher instead, her little face clouds over.

"I'm not going then," she growls. "I'm staying with Ann instead!"

Certainly if Ann decided to move from the nursery into reception class I would have fewer worries. Not only because my daughter would settle in faster, but also I might not feel so bad about her starting big school either.

When she was a tiny baby the idea of her ever being school age was ridiculous. She was always going to be my little bundle, who would never leave my side. But all of a sudden we're ordering school uniforms and picking out pretty pink lunchboxes with puppies on them, and I can hardly believe it.

When I got home from the meeting I went to bed and cried myself silly. When my husband asked what was wrong I told him that I couldn't bear the idea of my baby growing up and going to big school.

He sighed, gave me a cuddle and muttered the immortal words: "If you feel that way, we can always have another one to fill the void."

What? Going back to nappies, sleepless nights and bottles? I might be worried about my daughter going to big school, but the thought of having another one – that really is terrifying.