8 Ways to Prepare for Back to School in 2024

Why is it Important to Prepare for Going Back to School?

Whether your child was waiting their whole summer for GCSE results day or they didn’t have a worry in the world and enjoyed every minute of it, it’s still stressful to go back to school. However, they can’t avoid school if they want to have a successful future. Hence, All that is left is to stand by them, give them support and help them prepare for this dreadful day. Parent’s support is essential for all children – teenagers may not show it, but they need it too.

Also, this does not mean that children who adore school can’t benefit from your help with preparing. In fact, Educationquizzes did a survey on 3448 children and turns out, that 70% of students actually love going to school. Not all of them love it because they are learning something new (only 31%), some like it because of their friends, but still, it’s more than half!

How Parents Can Help Before the First Day of School

1. Help Them Improve Their Sleeping Routine

The older the children get, it gets harder to control their sleeping schedule. Don’t be too harsh on them though. Teenagers need more sleep than us. Their hormones shift their biological clock forward by one or two hours. Help them develop good sleeping habits with understanding and care! Explain why is it important to have a good sleeping routine and help them with developing it.

2. School Supply Shopping Before Going Back to School

School Supplies for Back to School

Notebooks, highlighters, pens, pencils – whatever it takes for your child to be good at school, right? Abigail Sharp, vice president of early childhood initiatives at United Way of Metropolitan says: “Having their own personal supplies contributes to their overall excitement and motivation to learn”. Having interesting and unique school supplies may not seem like something you see as a motivation. However, studies show that having school supplies improve children’s grades, overall self-image, peer relationships and more… If they did great on their previous serious exams, one of the best gits for passing exams can be an iPad. It’s good for note-taking and also, can boost their motivation.

The earlier you start your shopping for school supplies spree, the better. In 2022, parents are spending more money on school supplies due to inflation and supply chain problems. It’s expected that this year’s back-to-school spending will break the last year’s record with $37 billion spent.

School Uniforms

In addition, there may be a short supply of school uniforms in the UK. “Many families delay buying school uniforms until the last minute for financial reasons or to avoid being caught out by a summer growth spurt.” – says Zoe Wood in Guardian.

Hence, the earlier you get these over with, the better. However, don’t forget to be mindful of others and don’t buy more than you need.

Be sure to avoid scams. Many people use this opportunity to sell you “cheaper stuff” or lure you with coupons. If it’s too good to be true, it probably is. Hence, be careful if you opt for online shopping.

3. Find New Studying Methods to Make Going Back to School Less Scary

Someone said to me once “learn how to learn first” and I understood that quite late in life. Students may spend hours studying, but still, get bad grades on exams. That does not mean they are not capable of doing well, they might be just using passive studying methods.

Also, if your child struggles with some kind of learning disability (ADHD, dyslexia, dyscalculia) it might be helpful to search for hacks for these specifically. For example, to-dos may work for neurotypicals like a charm, but for people with ADHD, they are pretty much useless.

However, finding new studying methods can benefit every student, not only students who struggle. Learning smarter can save them time to learn even more, even if they are not falling behind in school. Thinking of exams is early, nevertheless, knowing revision methods or how to maintain mental health during exam season ahead of time won’t hurt!

4. Encourage Them to Do Productive Things Before Going Back to School

It’s hard to switch to learning mode after not doing much for a while. Hence, it’s important to start doing things that will make them ready for a new school year. Have a reading marathon, play board games, and watch educational movies. For example, if your child is now choosing their GCSEs or choosing their A level subjects, watch documentaries about different topics from different subjects. It will be fun, educational, and it will help with choosing their subjects.

5. Revisit School Material

Help them go over old topics in all subjects. Make sure they will be able to catch up on lessons on the first day. It’s important to be consistent with studying. Hence, make sure they won’t be missing lessons just because they could not study the material in time. 

However, don’t put too much pressure on them in the first few weeks. It’s difficult to get used to school again, so their school performance might not be perfect. However, don’t forget to encourage good attendance. It’s hard to catch up after you miss a few lessons. Therefore, if they feel overwhelmed, help them make timetables and to-do lists so that they can get on track faster with your support – whether it be emotional support or assistance with time management.

6. Try to Find out Why Exactly They Dread Going Back to School

Emotional Struggles

School can be really stressful and the more your child hates the school, the more they dread the arrival of a new year. First of all, their emotions are legitimate, even if they don’t make sense to you. Remember, sometimes teenagers don’t want to share their problems with their parents. Hence, don’t be sure you know why they dread school so much. It might be just because of the stress of homework, presentations and etc.

Maybe they just don’t want the responsibility of learning every day. Make them a relaxing cup of tea before the first day of school, give them a little pep talk and remind them why school is great. You can share your past struggles and make them feel understood. The older they get, the more responsibility they have. If they are just starting their GCSE courses or A-level courses, tell them about your experience and that there is no need to worry!

Needs Additional Help With University Admissions

If they are worried about university admissions ahead of time, there is always an option to find someone experienced to help them with university counselling, writing a good personal statement and interview preparation. 

For example, check out one of the tutors on Edumentors – Conall from the University of Cambridge.

“I’ve been tutoring for several years, and I have had the pleasure of seeing my students receive their offers at Cambridge this year following a course of tutorials.” – says Conall.

Needs Additional Help With Studying

There is another reason why your child might hate school – they are not “as good as others”. School systems can’t physically work for everyone. Some students are just slower learners or teachers don’t use teaching methods that work for the child’s learning style. That’s not a problem that can’t be solved.

Nevertheless, try to find the root of the problem since anxiety can majorly interfere with their studies. Anxiety causes panic attacks, sleeping problems, it makes it hard to concentrate and etc. Teenagers already feel things on a deeper level, so ensure that you are giving them mental support, even if you don’t see the need at that moment. 

Child Doesn’t Feel Safe at School

Teenagers may also stress about school because of bullying which is not something to ignore easily. Bullying sometimes can’t even be controlled by the teachers, because they might not even see it happening. If this is something you worry about, please don’t brush your anxieties away, read what to do if your child gets bullied at school.

7. Consider Additional Help

Firstly, If you’ve tried tutors last year and you want to secure a place in their schedule, go for it, before someone else does.

However, if you’ve seen your child struggle with schoolwork before and now you are not sure if they can do it alone this year, you might be considering tutoring. This is a hectic world we live in and parents not always can help, so don’t worry. 

A teaching union states that there might be a crisis in 2022 since there is a lack of backup teachers. Even if the school has enough staff, they might still have to cut teaching staff if the government does not help them. The energy bills are rising and schools are not covered by the energy price cap and some schools can’t afford that.

Also, schools might also have to increase classroom sizes. This will make learning for some students even harder. Big classrooms don’t give teachers the opportunity to pay attention to every child individually. Hence, even if your child normally does well in school, they might still benefit from having a tutor supporting them academically this year.

How Can a Tutor Help?

“Edumentors have really helped my son with his Maths. He looks forward to his lessons. His tutor is friendly, patient, organised and explains things in a way that relate to my son.” – writes Becky, one of the parents.

Tutors can be a great help, they can provide your child with anything from help with homework, help with the application process to universities, and emotional support to help with choosing subjects for qualification exams.

However, you need to choose what type of tutor your child needs first – an in-person tutor, a group tutor or an online tutor.

Pros and Cons of Different Tutoring Options

In-person tutoring is considered most productive since they are meeting face-to-face, but since the pandemic started, we saw that online learning can be as beneficial if not more.

Group tutoring can be the best for someone who likes working with others, doing group projects and learning best from discussions. Nevertheless, some children are shy and can’t quite articulate their thoughts with other students around. Also, this can defeat the purpose of private tutors – personalized lessons! Group lessons can be found both in-person and online too, so pick whichever works for you first before looking for group tutors.

What about the benefits of online tutoring? It can be cost-effective since neither you nor your child’s tutor will need to use transport and it is convenient since it saves time too. In addition, there are so many online tutors and you are not limited to tutors near you! Speaking of not being limited, it’s way easier to find the right tutor online than in-person. There are many great tutors who teach only online or live far away and you can miss out on them if you go for face-to-face tuition.

Also, let’s not forget the convenience and flexibility of online tutoring. It’s easier to schedule and reschedule lessons. They can have sessions after sunset without fear of the road back or for example, your child can even study when you are on vacation!

8. Find A Tutor Before Going Back to School

You might be wondering how to get life changing tutoring with the help of the internet. Firstly, you need to decide if you want to find an independent tutor or a tutor who works for a tutoring company. If you choose independent private tutors, you can use different social media to find them, like Reddit, Facebook and others. Be sure to check their credentials carefully though.

You are free to choose, however, online tutoring services are way safer and more reliable. You can find genuine reviews of other parents and most of the platforms require a background check before hiring. One of the best online tutoring websites is Edumentors. 

Tutors on Edumentors are enthusiastic about teaching and can adjust to any child and provide them with the help that they need.

“I like to customise my teaching methodology and lesson length in accordance with my students’ academic/personal goals. I would like to share my interests with you and help you uncover your academic potential, develop your personal skills and help you find your favourite academic pursuit. I look forward to meeting you and guiding you through your journey to achieving your goals!” – says one of the great tutors on Edumentors, Lisa from the University of Cambridge.

To Sum Up

While it is important to prepare for back to school on your own, you can always refer to some external help to make things easy for your teenager. There are plenty of experienced online tutors on edumentors.co.uk who can provide personalised learning support to them. Edumentors only hires tutors from UK’s top universities such as Cambridge, Oxford, Durham, etc. so these tutors know how to get into their dream universities first-hand. Plus, as one of the requirements, every tutor has to have a DBS check so you’re safe on that side too.

Book a free introductory session with a tutor of your choice and see how well they get along with your child. Tutors who recently passed GCSE and A level exams and got into their dream university usually have more to share than school teachers. See if it works for your child too and feel free to check another article about how should the first meeting of student and tutor go to be as ready as you can be.

Going back to school can be made so much less stressful and even made engaging for teenagers and you are already on a good track for reading this article and preparing for it beforehand. Take a few notes from what you just read and check other edu-mentors who could be of help.