IS it really that time of year again? I don't want to believe it, and yet all the signs are pointing to it: harassed-looking mums dragging gaggles of children around department stores, grabbing grey pleated skirts, queues in Marks & Spencer, nights drawing in by half eight.

Yes, there's no denying it, we may still be waiting for summer, but sadly it's "back to school" time.

Despite the fact that it's more than 10 years since I last took my tentative first steps into a classroom ready for the start of a new school year I can't help being swept up in back-to-school fever.

Every year come late August/early September I inexplicably develop that slightly queasy nervous feeling of fresh starts, new beginnings and "fun's over - time to pull your socks up" pep talks.

My body clock is stuck in the academic calendar - am I the only one who feels this way?

But while going back to the classroom for me meant choosing a new pair of sensible shoes, a winter coat, and a pencil case, it seems times have changed.

Have a look in your local stationery shop - there'll be adverts for USB memory sticks and CD discs rather than compasses and protractors.

Some things, however, stay the same.

Reporting on the GCSE results in Blackburn's schools last week I got the chance to meet a group of kids preparing for the new school year.

It made me smile with familiarity when one girl picked up a pen to write her name and shrieked: "Oh My God - I've forgotten how to write. Look - my handwriting's gone all weird."