Five tips to help your child’s transition from primary to high school

Published: 27 Sep 2019 Tagged: high schoolprimary schoolersschoolSpeakabletransition

One of the most important milestones during childhood is the transition from primary to high school. Differently from preschool to primary school, the transition from primary to high school involves social and study adjustments from the child. On the social part, a new school might represent new circles of friends, and the desire for belonging might get the child anxious. On the study part, new responsibilities related to controlling what classroom to go, a higher amount of classwork to do, different dynamics from each teacher and so on.

It’s very important to support this transition period in order to avoid mental health issues such as anxiety or depression, and even to help classroom performance not drop. Here are five tips to support your child during this important moment:

• High-level organisation: Help your child keep a daily routine of studies, organising homework, reading and storing every lesson. The more the routine is emphasised, the easier it will be assimilated by the child until it becomes a natural thing to do every day.
• Extracurricular activities: Each school offers a different set of extracurricular activities related to arts, sports, public speaking, applied science, hobbies and many other options. Before high school classes start, analyse the options offered by the school along with your child, inspiring him/her to be part of at least one of them in order to make new friends, acquire new skills and have fun.
• Friends: As mentioned above, extracurricular activities might help the child make new friends. However, the everyday classes will be full of students making their own social circles, which might make the child anxious for being part of one of those circles. Encourage your child to talk to different students and make friends everywhere at school, no matter what group they might be part of.
• Discuss the expectations from high school: An extremely helpful conversation is about clarifying the differences from the primary school the child is used to study for years versus the new dynamics from a high school. Help the child understand about having one teacher per subject, changing classrooms throughout the day, the increasing complexity of lessons and exams etc.
• Positivity all the time: Your child might become stressed or even sad at times because of several possibilities from school. It is expected to happen while the child is adapting his/her own expectations and pace to what is demanded. Never let your child feel as failing at high school – it’s just a temporary issue that you can overcome together!

By following these tips, you will ensure a much smoother transition from primary school to high school for your child. Just be there for your child with support, advice and positive thinking, and you will see your child will be happy and successful at high school. In case your child is facing issues and you understand some technical help might be the solution, get in contact with Speakable team for a quick chat on possible approaches to help your child!