Transitions

Big changes over the last couple of weeks. Unfortunately, David’s very sweet village school has no wrap around provision and the childminder we had been using decided to quit over the summer. I am due to start full time work again on Monday and we had tried everything to make it so that he could stay at his school. This even went as far as approaching the head with my own plan to set up provision provided by my husband. The plan seemed workable, and I completed a week long government funded business course to get my head round self-employment. We just needed enough parents to make it viable, but sadly that was not to be.

As a result, last Monday David started at a brand new school. 200+ children in the school as opposed to 37 as David was quick to point out to me when he received a certificate in front of the whole school. “There were 220 children looking at me!!” We initially visited after school one day with David to have a look around and prepare him for the move. We then discovered from some work David had done in his initial school that he was anxious because he hadn’t seen any children at the new school, so we did a quick additional visit to reassure him that there were children and to briefly meet his teacher.

I am a firm follower of the six principles of nurture and at my last school, successfully gained it recognition as a ‘National Nurturing School’. One of the principles is ‘The Importance of Transition in children’s lives’ so I was kicking myself when I realised how he felt because I should have known better.

This led me to think about transitions and the last year for my family. Transitions are hard for everyone. Invariably the anxiety and stress they cause pass as the transition ends but it is important to realise how much of an impact they have on you at the time. In the last year, we have moved house, moved to a different area of the country, started school, changed school, travelled away on my own, lost a cat, gained two kittens, started supply teaching, ended supply teaching, ended a career, about to start a new career. What hasn’t changed has been the three of us. We support and love each other through everything. In fact, in July, my husband and I celebrated 25 years of marriage.

How do we get through changes? We discuss and prepare as much as possible. Not only for David but for us too – talking about the possibilities. What could happen? What is definitely going to happen? What shall we do if this happens? What’s the worst that could happen? And inevitably, the worst that could happen is never as bad as you think it could be before you talk it through.

This is a link to a blog about the principles of nurture and specifically the one on transition for young people if you are interested in reading more (from proper scientific people!): Nurture Principle 6: The importance of Transitions (epinsight.com)