For his first school year in college, your child will discover several new features: new schedule, new teachers and premises. Here are our tips and parents’ testimonies to help him adapt well to this important step.
There Back to 6ᵉ Mark a major turning point in your child’s school career. It is often the first time that he has been in a larger establishment, with many changes to integrate. On the one hand, adaptation to a new physical environment with several distinct buildings and classrooms can be destabilizing. On the other hand, the timetable becomes more dense and structured, with various materials and sometimes long and intense lessons. Without forgetting the arrival of new teachers, each with their own expectations and teaching methods. All these elements require a real reorganization, both practically and mentally, and it is not always easy for a child to find their bearings. Here are our advice and testimonials from parents to help your child adapt well to his new college life.
1 – Visit college with your child before their first school year in 6th grade
To reassure your child before his first school year in 6th grade, show him the premises upstream. Take your child to see the college if possible before D -Day and the path he will have to take (make the trip with him by bus if he has to use school transport or on foot). On the first day, the principal teacher will visit the premises, often with the parents and will even be able to distribute a plan of the establishment. The teachers are also more understanding and know that the child needs time to familiarize himself with his new environment. There is therefore no reason to compete if it arrives late in the first weeks.
2 – Teach him to organize himself well
Entrance to college mark of major changes in the organization. “”The first weeks, we tried to be the most present: we always kept an eye on his agenda, we helped him revise his lessons (even if he often knew them at the fingertips), we saw that he was doing his bag and his duties correctly, we were watching that he did not forget an important control … “, recalls Annie, mother of Gabriel, 12 years old. “It is also important to teach him to anticipate from one week to the next and to prioritize his homework”, she advises.
What if your child forgets to mark his homework? Don’t worry. Most colleges now set up a “Interactive text notebook” Where are all the duties to be noted, the checks to the controls, the outings planned … It is also a platform on which parents can contact the various teachers in the event of problems. In all cases, the 6th grade allows you to empower him.
3 – Limit extracurricular activities
Another advice, don’t overcrowd : Think that it must adapt to a new rhythm, manage different homework and a sometimes heavy timetable. Ideal? No more than two extra -curricular activities, for example, a sport to let off steam and learn to channel your energy and a rather cultural activity (such as music, theater or drawing) to promote its concentration and creativity. With the arrival in college, the child needs decompression time during which he does nothing and releases the pressure.
4 – Help him adapt to new working methods
As far as possible, put aside your parents’ anxieties and avoid anxiety -type phrases of the type “This year is serious!“”,, “”You have an interest in working“, Or “”You will have a lot of homework“”. Useless pressure for the student, especially since there can be a gap between primary notes and that of 6th. To help him, your child can count on The time of support or deepening in French and mathematics implemented from the start of the 2023 school year. If he encounters difficulties with his duties, he can also rely on Help with generalized duties to all 6th grade students.
Also think that the rating system can differ depending on the teachers: a 13 in a teacher can be considered a very good note and another, very average. Nevertheless, if from the second trimester, your child still goes on bad grades, ask for an appointment with the professor in question and discuss it together: has an organizational problem? Does he rather memorize? Does it lack self-confidence and panic with each control?
5 – Reassure him and help him cope with the “big”
Having to rub shoulders with other older children can also be part of the child’s anxieties. Indeed, In CM2, the child is one of the “big” of the primary and suddenly, he becomes the “little” of the college. He can thus fear to undergo mockery, to be considered as a “baby” by his elders. Here again, the teaching team is there to govern the playground and detect any problems. If you have any doubts about his well -being at school, contact the principal teacher – who has a good knowledge of the class and students, and who will be able to do the intermediary between the various teachers – or the main education advisor (CPE).
6 – He no longer has his friends in his college, what to do?
His primary friends are educated in another establishment and he finds himself alone? If the first days can be painful, reassure it: Children are naturally sociable and tend to quickly forge links. Especially since schools often organize events at the beginning of the year to mix classes and promote meetings (sports lessons between several classes, setting up drawing workshops, the theater Le Temps de Midi, Cross, School Outings or Integration Travel …). This is what Annie confirms, “Gabriel knew no one in his establishment. A few days after the start of the school year, his college organized an “integration stay”: two days in the south of France with all the students of 6th. Verdict: he came back delighted with his trip and was made on this occasion full of new friends “.
