Starting school in 2022 – Last minute tips to help your child be ready!

By Allanah Dart - Speech Pathologist

What a milestone! Your little one is ready to start Prep in less than a week. I hope you are excited and that they are excited too. Whether this is your first child starting school or if you’ve got others already in school, here are a few tips that you can do over the next week to help them (and yourself) be ready for their first day.

Talk to them

Set some time aside this week, where you can give them undivided attention and talk about school. Talk about what their first day or first few hours might look like. See if they know how drop off and pick up will work. If you know their teacher, talk to them about them, teach them their teacher’s name. Have you given them some time to ask you questions about what school might be like, who they might see there and what sort of activities they might get up to?

Show them

Have you got a bit of free time this week or over the weekend? Why not do a drive by or better yet park where you might park and do a practice run of drop off or pick up. Why not give them a go on the playground and an individual tour of their school grounds.

This can be a great way of introducing them to their soon-to-be new environment. Show them where they might put their bag, where the toilets are, where they can go to fill up their water bottles. Why not even play a game of hide and seek, tiggy or i-spy and see what things they can find. Turning it into a game can make it fun for everyone – maybe their siblings would enjoy showing them around too!

A practice run

Have you been able to plan out what a school day (at home and at school) would look like? Maybe in the last few days of this week you could practice them getting up, having breakfast, putting their uniform on and getting their bag packed ready for the day.

Could you go beyond that and demonstrate how morning tea and lunch time happens at school, maybe you could all have lunch from a lunch box and see how they go. All of these ideas can help reduce possible anxious thoughts about what school might be like and can help start to establish familiarity for your little one.

What about me?

We cannot forget about you, as their parent/s this is a milestone for you too! Well done!

How are you feeling now that their first day is just around the corner?

Many parents have many different emotions as the day gets closer. You might feel anxious, apprehensive, sad, happy, excited or a mixture of these emotions – all of which are okay! Go easy on yourself and if you need some support, reach out to someone you know who might be feeling the same or maybe someone you know who has been through this before.

When day 1 is here, try to be organised and relaxed. This can help your child feel ready and calm too. Why not plan a fun morning or day for yourself so that your mind can be kept busy and remember, the school day will be over before you know it.