Starting a new school year is always a little daunting after having so much fun during the summer holidays.
Even more so right now for those children that have not been in a classroom since March and especially for those who are either starting Reception or moving schools into Key Stage 2. But there are little things at we can do to help prepare our children for this exciting new chapter.
- talk positively and excitedly about things helps reassure our children that while this is scary it is also an adventure – which is fun!
- it can help if you can familiarise yourself and the children with what things look like around the school area. Perhaps take a practise walk along the route you will take to school and talk about the things they see along the way to make a map of it when they get home. Wriggler has made a maps recently using his STABILO EASYcolors pencils and is looking forward to racing down his new route to see his friends
- this year it is going to be difficult to actually meet teachers in advance of the school year, but most schools are sharing information, virtual tours and meet the teachers to reassure children before the start of term – see what your choice of school has online if they haven’t shared it with you already
- and we did a little activity one rainy afternoon that the boys found helpful. Wriggler used his STABILO EASYgraph pencil and STABILO EASYoriginal to write a little booklet about his favourite things to introduce himself to his teacher and Fidget wrote his peg and tray labels for his new classroom – they may not be able to visit in person but they are still able to talk about what things will look like when they start
And finally, when you can see that they are getting worried why not try some mindfulness colouring to help them relax. We have dinosaur colouring books that we pull out and create crazy patterns or new dinos that have not been found yet and it helps calm their breathing and release their worries.