Preparing your child for school
Starting school, or moving to secondary school, is an exciting milestone. It can also be a challenging time for children and parents alike, but there’s lots you can do to ease the transition. We’re often asked for advice on preparing a deaf child for starting school. Although the tips below focus on primary school, many are also useful for moving to secondary school. • It’s helpful if children are familiar with the new school environment before starting. Visiting the school is important, but you can also use photos or other visual aids to familiarise them with words/signs for new places, people or concepts such as dining hall, playtime, cloakroom, lining up to go in, and so on. This can help prevent a child feeling anxious because they don’t know what’s happening or where things are. • Knowing what’s coming up is reassuring for all children, whatever their needs. Ask the school to provide a visual timetable you can display at home (most schools should have software for this) and discuss with your child what will happen each day and when. Timetables for September might not be available before the holidays but there’s no harm in asking.
• Help your child learn the words for different emotions and understand how they make them and others feel. This will help them build positive relationships and equip them to express their feelings to the teacher if, for example, they are tired, enjoying a subject or finding something frustrating. • Get your child used to making choices at home, so they feel confident making choices at school, especially when they have to do so quickly, for example in the lunch queue, or choosing between activities in the classroom. • Talk to your child about different situations which might arise and how they might feel, how others involved might feel and what they might do. For example: what if they want to join in a game, they want the same toy/book as another child, or they lose their hearing aid?
Starting secondary school repare your child for moving to a different ✓ Pclassroom for each lesson. Ask for a map of the school and talk through with your child how to get to different places. alk to them about preparing their school bag each ✓ Tevening with all the books they’ll need for the next day. sk the school for a list of topics (and ideally key ✓ Avocabulary) for each subject, so you can familiarise your child with important words before they encounter them in lessons. elp your child to understand the school rules so ✓ Hthey’re confident about what is and isn’t allowed, e.g.
child will ✓ Ibef your travelling independently, do a few practice journeys together so they feel confident about making the journey on their own. If you or your child is concerned about bullying, look at our resources for parents, professionals and young people (you can order them from our Helpline or download them from www.ndcs.org.uk/bullying). All schools have an anti-bullying policy and it might be helpful to look at this so that you and your child know what to do if bullying does occur.
use of mobile phones, handing in homework on time.
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NDCS Families • Summer 2015
0808 800 8880 • www.ndcs.org.uk