Preparing for the first day back at school should start the day before: When putting together the packed lunch, give your children the choice of what they want. This will put them at ease about that aspect of the next day and give them a sense of control. Keep it healthy though! Laying out the clothes and items (pencils, ruler etc.) that are needed for the next day will mean no mad rush in the morning, and make the transition more agreeable for both you and your child. Ask your child to try on uniforms the day before. This will prepare them psychologically for the next day, as they will be used to the feel and texture of the clothes. On the day: A good breakfast does wonders for a child’s concentration during the day, and will end them off in high spirits. A bowl of cereal or toast and a piece of fruit is clean, efficient fuel for kids. When dropping your child off, wait until the class is called together before going. All the excitement and crowds of people can be daunting for any child, and make them feel lost and upset if they find themselves suddenly alone. At the end of the day, your child will come back home tired but hopefully happy with the classroom. There is no better time to show how proud you are by serving up their favourite supper. Starting high school Starting at high school is a different prospect to primary school: On the one hand, by age 11, most children are comfortable with the prospect of spending the day away from home and getting on with their work. On the other hand, the curriculum is more complex and being thrust into a new environment can be confusing. Simply talking through changes your child will face when starting at high school will allay most fears they have about this transition. During the first week of high school, the new environment and high pace in the classroom may create a tired and cranky child, who can get teary due to new demands placed on them. Patience is the key to helping them settle; listen to their thoughts about their new surroundings, they will gradually adjust to the change. Worried children will usually look to their home and family to confide in, so make sure you talk regularly. Tell them you are proud, and a higher class means another stage of growing up. Remember, you're the first and last person who sees them each day. As you may well have done at primary school, try to develop a wide network of other parents from school. This will be useful as it will provide common ground for your child to bond with others, or become the basis for a carpool. In any case, a strong acquaintance with other parents is very handy. General back to school After the excitement of the summer holidays, the last thing your child will be looking forward to is going back to school. It is best to start the wind down towards the beginning of the school year a few weeks beforehand. The summer has already been long so it is healthy to tone things down a bit: One of the most important things to take into account is bedtime. During the holidays, bedtime would most likely have been slipping gradually later and later, and waking up has probably done the same. The trick is to set bedtime back 10 or 20 minutes every night for a couple of weeks to get things back in order. Protest from your child is unavoidable, but be firm and it will pay off at the start of school. In the rundown to school there are a lot of things to sort out: new uniforms if they have shot up over the summer, as they have a tendency to do, new stationary and other items. Try to make a day of these chores: wake up early, have breakfast and leave the house. While you are out, getting some of the chores done is only half the day: why not all pop into a restaurant for lunch and then find some other activity? The zoo, a museum or even the cinema make good after lunch activities and really fill up the day. Your children may have been getting used to lazy days, watching television and playing over the last two months, so a reminder of the concentration and energy required to complete a day of school is useful. In this way, you will get some of the chores out of the way, have some fun as a family, and by the evening you will all be tired and looking forward to bedtime. Playing quiz games like Trivial Pursuit or something similar will get young minds working again, and quick tests of mental arithmetic help them regain skills they may have lost over the course of the summer.