Transition to Secondary

[mysparkleismissing]

Any wise tips out there for making this easier for us all....

my teen has ASD and had an excellent transition despite my worst fears.

I spent the summer before 1st year teaching my child:
how to read a class timetable
how to tie shoelaces (I know!!)
how to catch a bus alone
how to use google maps
how to use a locker
what to expect from a school day

Time the walk to school/how long it is to take a bus

Put bus apps/google map/city map on phone and teach him how to use them.

Go through any equipment/stationary list and see that your child has a fixed place in their room to do homework and space for books.

If you work, will be someone at home or is your child responsible for keys? Maybe think about getting a keysafe somewhere.

Thank you. Good ideas here I'd not thought about Google maps.

What to do if they miss their bus/get on the wrong bus/get off at the wrong stop etc. It happens to most at some point! In our case the bus diverted due to roadworks with no notice. Always have a plan B and some spare change.

Make sure they have a power bank always charged.

Other then that not much. They suss it out really quickly x

I think that depends. DD left the house with a fully charged mobile and as she wasn't allowed to use it in school apart from the odd occassion, she only used it to listen to music on her walk to and from school.

It's obviously differnt if you have a longer trip by train or bus but I would assume a normal battery would survive the day.
Depending on the age of the mobile though.

Well done to Doris re shoelaces! Mine's 12 and we've given up (for now) and embraced velcro once again. And as for the ruddy tie...
In all seriousness, that's a great list. Mine also has ASC and I was ever so worried - unnecessarily it turned out. My best bit of advice would be to keep weekends very quiet for the first term.

Talk to them about any worries they may have. Encourage them to see friends over the holiday who they can travel to school with if walking/using public transport.
Make sure they know the route to school, safe places to cross roads, what to do in an emergency or if the bus doesn’t arrive etc. Make sure they can tie their tie, getting it on and off without undoing it is useful!
Obviously make sure they have the correct shoes and other uniform/equipment.
Set up a place where they can do homework and keep their books so it’s ready for the term.

Not much else you can do until they start! Schools are very good on getting the kids settled in. Within a few weeks it’s like they’ve been there forever for most kids.

@Teets you can get elasticated shoes laces both rounded ones and flat ones if he wants those instead of velcro shoes although loads of kids here were wearing velcro in year 9. Ds had elasticated ones just because he likes to make life easy on himself. Originally he had the ones you cinch tight on his football boots.

@mysparkleismissing attach their door key to their bag using one of those elasticated keychain things. Organisation is key. Mine empted all of their books out of their bag everyday into wooden magazine files and repacked their bags checking that timetable with the books for the next day. The pencil case never left their bag so they wouldn't leave it at home. We had spare everything here to use.

We printed out there timetable and it was up in their room and on the back of the front door so they could check it before they left. If they have Google maps on their phone, they can share their location with you is a temporarily or permanently.

Checklist on the door of whatever door they leave through in the morning. Remind them to check the list, rather that giving half a dozen individual reminders.

Encourage and support them with emailing teachers if stuck on homework. No one intentionally sets homework designed to make an 11 year old stew over it for an hour, or cry. If it's too hard, they need to ask for help.

Encourage them to use the canteen in the first couple of days if possible. Consider sending a back up emergency sandwich if this might be particularly tricky for them and they are very anxious.

Buy a massive bag of pens and put it in their room where they can just grab new ones when the old ones run out/explode.

Keep a separate set of equipment (protractor, ruler etc) for when they are doing their homework so that they don't get it out of their bag for homework then forget to put it back in.

Get them in the habit of packing their bag the night before instead of in the morning. In the morning is too much of a rush and things get forgotten. The first few evenings I would sit with DS and his timetable and physically pack his bag with him so he got into the swing of it.

Have a list next to the front door of things to check on your way out, e.g. Tuesday PE kit, Thursday Food tech ingredients and another 'always' list e.g. locker key, phone, headphones, lunch, water bottle.

Ds1 has an emergency tenner inside his blazer just in case he loses his wallet with bus pass etc.

Label everything. EVERYTHING. He lost his trainers, half his pe kit, his raincoat and his calculator within the first half term, all because he was lax about putting stuff straight back in his schoolbag. Stuff will go missing so have spares (the first time anyway. After ds lost his calculator a second time I told him he could spend the 15 quid himself for a new one)

Make sure they repack their bag every day straight after school with next days lessons.

Take a photo of their timetable on day one. Planners get lost all the time!

Make sure you're across any online logins they have and make a note of passwords. Helps when they forget and means you can keep tabs on what they're doing.

Decent but small umbrella to be stashed in bag. Practice the route in obviously, key attached to bag is a good top we've mislayed a good few keys... A go Henry for a snack on the way home is a good idea but shops that sell adult things like tobacco or alcohol sometimes don't accept them so I used to have a change stash and gave them a quid or two for a snack. Mine were ravenous after more intense day/longer walk.

Bit late now but get blazers and branded items at the start of summer as they just fly off the shelves, just size up a bit. Hush puppies are good for long walkers as they're tough wearing but soft. My eldest just left school and I think he only got through two pairs of hush puppies in 5 years with a 2 mile walk every day. They're still in decent nick it's just the laces I've had to keep replacing!

In a very large school canteens can have big queues and so packed lunches just ended up being simpler and meant my kids would actually have something to eat and drink!

Make sure if they get a bus that they know where to get the return bus from ie you don’t get on at the same stop.