Smooth start depends on preparation

From bright-eyed Preps ready to head off to big school, to new secondary school students, there are bound to be some first day nerves.

The best way to ensure a smooth start to the school year is to be prepared and get things off on the right foot in a calm, organised way.

Reassure your child that while a new year, new teacher, new classmates and perhaps a new campus, might seem daunting, school is a fun and happy place to be and the nerves will soon give way to a great year of learning ahead.

It won’t take long for them to find their friends from last year, or make some new ones, and before you know it, they’ll be waving goodbye to mum and dad with barely a look back.

Here are a few simple back-to-school tips for the first day of 2025.

• Get back into a routine. Sleep routines often drift during the school holidays with your kids sleeping later each morning. To ensure they’ll be fresh for the first day back at school, use the last week of the holidays to start waking them a little earlier each day until you’re back to your school term morning routine.

• Don’t buy school shoes at the last minute. While buying new school shoes is a task best left to the end of the school holidays, don’t leave it too late — you may find yourself stuck in a shoe shop queue.

• Break in new school shoes. When you buy new school shoes, encourage your kids to wear them around the house for an hour or two for a couple of days to both break them in and to blister-proof their feet.

• Choose a lunch box that works for your child. There can be a bit of trial and error when it comes to finding that perfect lunch box, but you’ll fast-track the process if you take the time to find out exactly how your kids eat their lunch. Quiz them on what they like to have in their lunch box. It’s better to discover that your child trades her apple every day with a friend at the beginning of the year than at the end.

• Label everything. Label the obvious stuff (hat, lunch box, school bag) and the not-so obvious stuff (shorts, undies) — you’ll be amazed by the ability your kids have to shed their possessions.

• Have a back to school fashion parade. Spend a morning with your kids and have them try on every piece of uniform they own — it’s incredible how much children grow over summer and you don’t want to discover their uniform doesn’t fit on the first morning back to school.

• Check there are no nasty surprises in the school bag. A mum who has learnt the hard way will already have thoroughly cleaned out the school bag at the end of the school year, but those of us who weren’t that clever should clean it out now to avoid a later run in with a six-week old banana.

• With a new school year, come new routines. Check you have all the practical details sorted. Do your kids need bus passes? A house key? An updated important phone numbers list?

• Take the time to talk to your kids about new routines. You, no doubt, have everything organised in your head, but have you communicated this? Talk through before or after school care organisation, new bus routes, school pick-up routines and any other organisational changes they should be aware of.