Building resilience
and mental wellbeing for children and young people

School Transitions

Is your child starting at primary school or moving to secondary school or moving Key Stage? 

Then this page is for you. 

Read more
Starting Primary School

Check out out Transition Mission

Read more
Going to secondary school
In school transitions

5 top tips for starting primary school

For more tips to help prepare for starting school visit: Starting primary school - Cornwall Council

  1. Talk about school

Want to prepare your little one for primary school but not sure where to begin?

Start by talking to your child about school. Is there anything they are excited about or anything that is making them worried? Reading stories about starting school can help children to understand what school might be like.

  1. Explore school together

Familiarising your child with their new school can help to boost their confidence on their first day.

  • Your child’s school may arrange taster sessions before they start.
  • Walk past the school together and see if you can see their classroom.
  • Look at the school website together, talk about the photographs, can they spot their class teacher?

  1. Foster independence

Encourage your child to develop independence skills to help them to feel happy and confident about starting primary school.

  • Getting dressed. Make it fun and exciting to have a school uniform! Let your child practise putting on their uniform before starting school and fastening and unfastening buttons, zips and Velcro independently.
  • Going to the toilet. Being able to use the toilet independently is an important skill that will help your child with the transition to primary school.
  • Feeding themselves. Practise using a knife and fork and carrying a plate or tray. If your child will be taking a lunchbox, practise opening it as well as any containers and packets inside.

  1. Practise social skills together

Making friends is a great way to help children adapt to starting school. Teach your child some useful phrases which they can use to ask someone to play, such as “can I join in?” or “do you want to share?” Play turn taking and sharing games to practise sharing and social skills at home.

  1. Establish a routine

Starting primary school can be exciting but may also daunting for your little one. Help ease the transition by establishing a consistent routine, so your child gets used to getting up, going to bed, and having meals and snacks at the times they will on school days.

Transitions between classes / key stages

Entering a new situation (e.g. a new school, classroom and a new teacher) can be a stressful time, and some points of transition e.g. around key stages. 

There are things the school and you can do to help to help your child

Is changing class / year group really a big deal? 

Some changes can be exciting. But others can be stressful, worrying and upsetting.

Change can be more difficult when a young person:

  • does not want it to happen
  • does not feel ready for it
  • feels worried about what is happening next, because it is new or unknown
  • needs time to let go of something that has ended
  • feels like what is happening to them is out of their control

The key is talk to your child - what are they going to miss from their old class, what are they looking forward in their new one? Do they have any worries (big or small)? Can you help them to identify if they are practical worries they can do something about or pesky 'what if...?' worries that they can't control. 

Check out the worry tree.

Is there anything your child wants to make the teacher know about them before they start in their new class? Perhaps they could write a letter / postcard for the teacher to tell them? 



Page last updated: 22 July 2024

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