Jamie comes out of his classroom first, happy to see me and chattering about his day. But when Alice comes out, her face is pulled down into a scowl, which is strange.

‘Hello, everything okay?’ I ask, pulling her into a hug and kissing the top of her head. ‘Let’s walk quickly, get home where it’s nice and cosy.’ I take each of their hands and we start walking. I keep my head bowed, avoiding eye contact with the other parents. But I needn’t have worried – the weather is so dreadful that everyone just wants to leave and get back to their warm, dry homes.

‘Mum, today was really bad.’ I look down at my daughter and see that she’s trying not to cry.

‘Alice, what happened?’

‘I don’t want to talk about it now because I might get upset and people will see and then everyone will call me a cry baby.’

It looks like my daughter’s day was on a par with mine. ‘Okay, let’s get home. We’ll stride quickly. Careful though; it’s icy.’

Once we’re inside and the children are settled in the kitchen with a drink and a snack, I ask my daughter to explain why she’s so upset.

‘Don’t worry, Alice,’ Jamie says, trying to sound grown-up, ‘I’ll look after you.’

‘You’re a very good brother.’ I kiss his round cheek and wish Toby was here to see how cute our son is being. But then I remember that I’m not exactly happy with my husband at the moment.

‘Hope didn’t invite me to her birthday party.’ Alice kicks repeatedly at the table leg until I reach down and place a hand on her knee to stop her. I have a horrible feeling that this exclusion is something to do with the reason Madeline and Kim are ignoring me.

‘They’re going to see Peter Pan at the theatre, and everyone was talking about it today and planning what outfits they’re going to wear. And I felt really left out because I’m not going. So I just had to sit there while they talked about it, and it was horrible.’ My daughter’s face is red, and she looks like she’s about to burst into tears at any moment.

‘Oh, Alice.’ I give her a hug as my anger rises. It’s one thing for my friends and family to take issue with me, but to penalise my daughter is downright cruel. ‘Who else has been invited? Is it everyone from your class?’

‘No. There’s eight girls going, including Hope. But it’s our whole group of friends!’

Jamie gets out of his seat and gives his big sister a cuddle. He’s being such a sweetie.

‘Did you say anything about it to Hope?’ I ask.