The new place

The sheet

Before term, walk the route twice, find the handful of rooms that matter in the first week, and plan what your child will do if they get lost.

To fill in together · A4 · One page · PDF, 40 KB

How it helps

Much of a child’s worry before a new school is about not knowing: the way there, where things are, and what to do if they get lost. Doing the route twice and planning for getting lost turns those unknowns into things they have already done and decided.

How to use it

1. In the summer before term, do the route with your child twice: once together, at about the time they’ll travel in September, and once with them leading while you stay a step behind.
2. From the school’s map or a visit, find the handful of rooms that matter in the first week, and let your child draw or note them on the sheet.
3. Fill in the box for getting lost together: who your child can ask, and where they can wait.
4. Two runs and one afternoon are plenty, so don’t let it take over the summer. Your child can keep the sheet in their bag for the first week if they like.

How to get this sheet

This sheet comes with a subscription. It is also yours with its chapter, if that is the chapter you read free, or if a teacher or therapist sends it to you. School staff and therapists signed in to their shelf can print it too.

The first chapter you open here is free to read in full, with its sheets. This one goes with The Move to Secondary School.

Free to print

These are free to anyone, with nothing to sign up for.

• A plan for a bad dayTo fill in together · A4
• Before you ring the schoolFor a call or a meeting · A4
• What to say: school and friendsCards to cut out · A4, eight cards to cut
• Before the SENCo meetingFor a meeting · A4
• Three reports, side by sideFor a meeting · A4 landscape
• The return-to-school meetingFor a meeting · A4
• The move to secondary school, for a parents’ eveningFor a parents’ evening · A4, five pages
• The last half-hour before bedFor the fridge · A4
• The worry ladderTo fill in together · A4
• Before you see the GP about your childFor an appointment · A4, two sides
• A record of what happenedFor a call or a meeting · A4, two pages
• The people I can tellTo make together · A4, two pages

Every sheet, marked free or with a subscription, is at theparentbook.com/printables.