Learning in a crisis: starting school after COVID-19
Starting school can be daunting for your child. We have provided some hints and tips to help your child settle in as quickly as possible and included some advice on what to expect with the current social distancing guidelines.
If possible, visit the new school with your child. Ask to see the areas of the school relevant to settling in - their class room, the coat hooks, the bathroom. Meet the teacher and encourage your child to say hello and share something about their interests or show a favourite toy. It can be helpful for your child to bring a special teddy or other item to remind them of home as they settle in to a new school (e.g. a special pen, a charm for their back pack or even something that smells like you - such as a spray of your perfume or after shave on their collar).
Get familiar with school activities, such as recognising and writing their own name and learning the alphabet. Read together and if possible go to a library and encourage them to pick out books for themselves - if not possible, encourage the same with books that you own or audio books which can be found online. You could even set-up a library ‘checking-out’ system to make it fun for them!
Prepare your children with the life skills they will need at school. Teach them to get dressed, use the toilet and wash their hands independently. Social skills are so important to helping your child settle quickly, encourage them to talk to other children and break this into chunks for them, what’s obvious to an adult is unfamiliar territory for a child. Teach them to start conversations by smiling, asking what the other child’s name is and introducing themselves. This may be more difficult at this time, so encourage them to join your Zoom calls with friends and family and start a little conversation about what they have been doing that day. You may want to teach and practice with them a playground game that they can then invite other children to play when they start school - simple games include ‘It, What’s the time Mr Wolf and I-Spy.’
Try to find out the name(s) of their teacher(s) and use these when preparing them for what to expect from school. Tell them how to talk to teachers; things such as hand raising; asking permission; and how to talk about their worries.
Schools will also be following the current social distancing guidance and so will be making plans to do virtual tours of the Early Years classrooms, videos from their teachers and provide all the usual settling information for parents and children in an online way. Spend some time looking at this information together - this will help you identify their worries. You can then use some of our tips from ‘Part 2 - Learning in a crisis: returning to school after COVID-19’ to support them with their worries or download our ‘Top 5 books to help children understand worries.’
Spending time looking at the information together will also show you what things they found interesting which you can then use positively in future conversations. For example, ‘I bet you will like the ‘classroom dinosaur corner the best’ when you start school.
Your school will be in touch with you over the next couple of months to take you through all the plans and procedures that are in place for your child’s first day, dropping off, moving around the school and collecting your child. This may change as social distancing guidelines are altered, so keep an eye on the school website for latest information or send them an email if guidance changes and you are unsure what this means for your child.