School's back for autumn!

The new school year is looming and, up and down the country, school uniforms, pencil cases, and books are being purchased in preparation.

Your children may be as nervous as they are excited to be reunited with their peers and start in a different class, with different teachers and timetables. Meanwhile, you might feel a little anxious about what the new year will bring; will your child have fallen behind during the summer break? Will they be put into classes with their friends? Will they like their new teachers and subjects? Will you all wake up on time for the first day back?

Here are a few top tips to make the return to the classroom that much easier:

Sleep easy
Try to ease back into the bedtime/early morning routine a few days ahead of the first day back. One of the hardest routines to recover is your sleep routine so, to avoid an exhausting first day back at school, try to reintroduce your school bedtimes and wake late sleepers increasingly early to readjust them slowly.

Table your times
It's not just teachers and students whose days are run by a strict timetable. A new term at school, or even a new school, comes with a host of new after-school clubs, sports, and social events which can seem near impossible to keep track of initially. Why not encourage your child to take responsibility for their own time by asking them to keep a calendar of their activities? Keeping it somewhere prominent in your home will make it easier for you to keep track of their movements, and for them to take ownership of managing their time.

Be prepared
Make sure the school bag, school uniform, shoes and coats are ready two days before the first day of term. This way you'll know if you need to make any last minute purchases, or if there is something which needs replacing. It will also mean everything is laid out and ready ahead of the first early morning so there will be less of a chance of panic.

Leave early
There are few things worse than the panic of leaving home late and then finding yourself stuck in traffic, or seeing the first bus or train arrive packed with people. As most schools return at around the same time, roads are busier, public transport is packed and who knows what chaos the weather will cause! Give yourself a time buffer by leaving early. You can always readjust your schedule on the second week, once things have calmed down a bit.

Debrief
Plan a family dinner for the evening after the first day back at school. That way you can find out about any new expectations from the school or teachers, any upcoming school trips which are already planned, and get a feel for the amount of homework you can expect to be assigned over the coming year.

Whatever happens, in a few weeks' time you and your family will be well settled into the routine of the new school year.