Back To School - 5 Top-tips For Primary Parents

The summer holidays are drawing to a close and parents are gearing up to send their kids back to school. Here are some top tips for parents of primary school aged children to help you make sure you are giving your child the best start to the school year as possible.

1. Name Name Name

It may seem obvious but your child is going to be going into a class with a lot of other children. Each child has a pencil case (or should have one) with their own equipment, uniform, lunch boxes and socks!

It is so helpful when things are named and I mean everything from clothing, to pencils, to felt pens and socks!

If something is dropped, or found lying around or shared with a classmate , if it can be easily identified it can be returned to the rightful owner with little fuss. Without a name many problems can occur and often are unable to be resolved resulting in you having to buy yet more of whatever it was to replace the lost items.

So name everything!

2. Stationary Basics

Going back to school without adequate stationary is like a bus driver going to do their job without a bus!

When at school your child needs a few stationary basics: a pen, a pencil, a rubber, a sharpener, a ruler.

You could add a few extra items like a pencil case and some colouring pencils.

You can get very expensive stationary but do not feel you need to stretch to this. As long as they have some cheap, basic supplies this will help them get off to a good start.

3. Drop-n-Dash

This applies specifically to younger children, and especially to those starting school for the first time, although anxiety can linger for some even as they advance up the school.

You may be particularly anxious about your little one starting school. It seems like such a big step, and they seem so little. You may have never left your child in the care of someone else before. However, this isn t about you, it is about them and their school career.

We all want the best for our children, so giving them the best possible start to school & is a desire we all share. With this in mind, don t let your fears and worries spill over and onto them.

The best strategy when dropping off your child is to make it as quick as possible.

Yes, hold hands, take then in to their classroom, say hello to the teacher. But then go! Go! Go! Go!

Even if your child tries to cling to your leg, or starts screaming the place down. Go!

The teachers are professionals and know what to do. Your child is in safe hands.

If you feel that you need a little cry, try to keep it in until you are out of sight of your child it will help their day to be so much better and will help them to understand that school is a happy place.

The sooner you go, the quicker they will calm down and will soon be smiling away having fun with one of the 1000 interesting new things available to them in the classroom.

It is the child of the parent who hangs around, hugging and cajoling, sitting on the floor and pleading with the child who finds that their child takes a very long time to adjust.

4. Be Involved

Get to know your child s new teacher s name.

Go along to the school/class welcome evening or afternoon session.

Ask a few questions, but don t overdo it. You have a whole year to communicate with your child s new teacher so don t feel you have to ask everything all at once. Teachers are more than welcome to involve parents in their child s education.

5. Read the letters

This can be a tough ask but do try to read the letters, or emails that school sends to parents. I know some schools are worse at this than others and you get school spam endless forests of trees wasted in paper informing you of this and that and the next thing, most of which is not relevant to you. However, some of it is relevant and is important for you to be aware of. So take a deep breath, and read the letters.

I find it handy to have a home calendar where the whole family writes their important appointments on, all in one place. When you spot a relevant piece of information or an important school date pop it on the calendar immediately. Then you don t need to worry about losing that bit of paper in among the rest of it all.

If it is a permission slip or something else you need to fill in or sign do this immediately and put straight back in the school bag so it doesn t get forgotten.

I hope this has helped?

Enjoy the first day of school.