This is the latest weekly One Thing or a Mother column from Katherine Hollisey McLean.

Year-six parents will probably be feeling the same as me this week. Monday was National Offer Day, bringing with it the news to parents across the UK of where their child has been allocated a place at high school.

West Sussex County Council said there were a total of 9,050 secondary school applications in our county – which is a lot of parents who have likely been on tenterhooks all weekend.

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placeholder image — The latest Department for Education Progress 8 score shows the city's secondary school pupils still lag behind their national counterparts.

For those lucky enough to get their first-choice school, like my daughter, there’s the joy and relief of knowing you’ve secured the exact school you and your child wanted (well, hopefully you were all in agreement in your house).

But with that knowledge of the desired school place being given dawns the realisation that this is actually happening. That in six short months your precious ‘baby’ will be heading into the next stage of their education.

It feels monumental. There is a very big difference from having a big fish in the small pond of primary school, to a small fish in the huge secondary school lake.

While my daughter craves independence and is excited about the next stage of her journey, as she rightly should be, her mum is taking a little longer to process it.

I can’t say for sure yet, as I haven’t experienced being a high school parent, but there’s a safety in having a child at primary school. For most of your child’s time there, you escort them to and from school. You get to know the other parents, you say hi to the teachers and support staff, and you feel like you’re along for the ride (albeit in the back seat!).

Secondary school is a different ballgame. They’ll probably make their own way there, and as such you won’t be standing in the playground making coffee dates with the other mums and dads. It’ll be more their responsibility to pass on messages and relay information to the school. You won’t be quite as involved, and that’s a little bit sad.

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Of course it’s all part of the process of your child growing up, I just haven’t quite got my head around how quickly the primary school years have flown by.

I’m also thinking of all the parents and children whose secondary school offer letter didn’t bring the news they were hoping for. The vast majority of children (87.1 per cent) were offered their first preference school. That’s great, but it must make it all the harder for those that weren’t.

Not only is there all the upcoming secondary school admin to come, I am slightly nervous at the raft of year-six exams, trips, leavers’ assemblies and events that are still on the horizon. Basically, it’s going to be a busy and emotional few months.

I’ll no doubt be discussing it all, so stay tuned for (many) more updates.

* West Sussex County Council admissions officers are on hand to speak to parents, carers and pupils should they want to discuss their offer and the options available to them such as an independent admission appeal, by calling 03330 142903 or emailing [email protected] or [email protected]

Some children may be feeling nervous or worried about starting secondary school. The Your Mind Matters website has lots of resources to support the wellbeing of children and young people along with advice to help parents and carers.