The route, twice, and the map

The activity

Before term, do the route once together and once with your child leading, and draw the few rooms that matter.

What it is for. The first morning at a new school is easier if your child already knows the way there and something of the building. The second run, with them leading, matters more than the first.

• The first step. Do the route once together, at roughly the time your child will do it in September.

Safety. If there is a first-morning photograph, do not post it publicly with the school badge showing.

When to get help. If the worry about the move is getting worse, or is affecting your child’s sleep or eating, talk to the new school before term; many will arrange an extra visit. The routes under “If you need help right now”, at the foot of every page, are for when it cannot wait. If your child has hurt themselves, or talks about not wanting to be alive, stay calm, thank them if they have told you, don’t promise to keep it secret, and act that day: help them ask the surgery for an urgent appointment, and if it is closed, use the routes under “If you need help right now”, at the foot of every page. If your child tells you that someone is hurting them, stay calm, thank them for telling you, don’t promise to keep it secret, and act that day, using those routes; if the person hurting your child lives in your home or your child’s other home, go straight to children’s social care or the police. If your child is badly hurt, or may have taken too much of a medicine, get medical help straight away, even if they seem well.

The other four steps, and your part in it, are in the library.

The sheet that goes with it comes with a subscription: The new place.

It goes with

• The Move to Secondary School. For parents whose child is about to go from being one of the oldest at school to one of the youngest.
• Anxiety, by Age. For parents of a child whose worry has started to make decisions for them, with what helps at each age and when to ask for help.

The first chapter you open here is free to read in full.

Free on this subject

• Transitions. What to do first, what helps, and who else can help. Free to read and to print.
• School stress. What to do first, what helps, and who else can help. Free to read and to print.