MADELEINE Randall and Olivia Bullen need only reach out for each other if they feel a little nervous when starting kindergarten at Hillsborough Public School next week.
Not that their mums, Melinda Randall and Samantha Bullen, think the girls - who have grown up together - will feel anything but excited about finally joining their older siblings at big school. "They walked through the school gates holding hands at their orientation and did not want to turn around to give us a kiss," Mrs Randall said.
Mrs Bullen said she had thought her older daughter, Adeline, was ready, "but this is a whole different level". "Olivia is so ready to learn about the world and I think she is socially ready as well," she said. "She'll be waking up extremely early."
Mrs Randall said both girls were strong. "Each being the third child they've been around school so long they're used to it and they're confident," she said. "During lockdown and seeing her brother and sister doing maths and English, Madeleine wanted to sit up with them and do it too. She's emotionally ready, she makes friends easily and she participates well."
Olivia will sit her Best Start Assessment on January 29 and Madeleine will sit hers on February 2. Their first official day will be February 3. The five-year-olds have known each other since Olivia was born, when Madeleine was seven months old.
Mrs Randall and Mrs Bullen met in 2015 when their sons, Alexander Randall and Elliott Bullen, both now 10, had their kindergarten orientation."I saw Mel at Lollipops [Playland and Cafe] and said 'Hey, our kids are going to school together, do you want to be friends?' " Mrs Bullen said. "Then we realised all of our kids are at the same age."
Mrs Randall said they started chatting and found out their lives were "completely aligned". Their sons were born two months apart, share the same middle name and became friends soon after starting kindergarten in 2016, bonding over their love of soccer and watching and discussing sport.
The middle siblings - Jasmine Randall and Adeline Bullen - both eight, also share the same middle name, were born two months apart and were already friends when they started kindergarten in 2018. They play netball and do craft together. Madeleine and Olivia attended the same preschool two days a week and dance together. They even lost their first teeth within a week of each other. They hope to sign up to gymnastics and netball when they start school. "I see similarities between Jasmine and Olivia, so it means that their opposite is used to that kind of personality," Mrs Bullen said. "But both Olivia and Madeleine dictate the terms to their older siblings!"
The Randalls and Bullens see each other multiple times a week on the sidelines at sport and at least once a month at social events. Both Mrs Randall and Mrs Bullen help with kindergarten reading and writing groups and are considering volunteering in the school canteen. They help each other with activity pick up and drop off. If one of their six children has a party or a sleepover, all attend. "Mel organises me, she's my friend wife," Mrs Bullen said. "She just keeps me on track."
Mrs Randall works from home and often cares for all six kids, which she said was easier than just three, because they entertain each other. Neither has parents living nearby. "What they say about it taking a village is real - this is our village," Mrs Bullen said. "She's a good sounding board if anything is going on in the kids' lives, we can compare notes." "Then we can laugh or cry about it together," Mrs Randall added. When Madeleine and Olivia start kindergarten, they will have the "amazing" Mrs Mills, who also taught all four older siblings.
Mrs Randall said Madeleine was most looking forward to arts and craft. "I think Maddie will be more about reading and writing, not maths, which is the opposite to Alex, but she seems to have more interest in letters than numbers." Meanwhile Mrs Bullen said Olivia was a "numbers girl". "She's been reading speed signs since she was little," she said. "She loves arts and crafts as well and getting dirty. Once she concentrates on something she's happy to do that, I don't think she will be difficult in the classroom, but she might be a bit chatty." Mrs Bullen said Olivia would be a "class clown" while Mrs Randall said Madeleine would be an "entertainer". "She says the funny and silly things we talk about for years to come."
Mrs Randall said she wasn't sure if the girls had thought much about the significance of tackling their new challenge together, but their closeness was evident "in the way they act". "At the end of last year I had Olivia and another of Madeleine's friends over and Olivia said to the other friend 'Have you been here before? I have, I even know where the spare key is'. She staked her claim!"
Mrs Bullen said the girls would stick together at school. "They will make new friends, but come back to each other."
Mrs Randall and Mrs Bullen said they were glad the state government had relaxed guidelines to allow kindergarten parents to walk their children into school on the first day. They'll then go to lunch together. "I'll be feeling a combination of happy and sad," Mrs Randall said. "She's ready and there's relief they'll be fine and a bit of 'Wow, we got them all through', but a bit of sadness because they're our babies and we won't be spending as much time with them."
Mrs Bullen said she'll be feeling mostly excited for Olivia. "But I say I'll cry because I'm a bit of a sook," she said. "There will probably be a couple of tears because she's gotten so big and that's it, I have no control!" Olivia said she was thrilled to get her shoes and felt "excited" about school, which would be "new and fun". She said she was looking forward to counting, reading, drawing and craft, as well as playing on the slide and fireman's pole. Madeleine was most excited to get her pink cat lunchbox and her backpack with a "kittycorn" - a cat with a unicorn horn. She said she felt "good" about school, which would be "fun". She is looking forward to reading, drawing, writing, craft and playing in the sandpit.
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