I can vividly remember the ending of Year 6 for my eldest Son, the sense that a huge milestone in his life was ‘under his belt’ and a real mixture of emotions about the changes that lay ahead. As a parent, you never think your child is going to change and it can be daunting to imagine your child as they are now being able to navigate all that ‘big school’ entails. But change they do, sometimes subtlety and sometimes seemingly overnight.
I didn’t have the same experience with my youngest son, as his end of Year 6 was mid- Pandemic and he didn’t have any of the usual endings or the celebrations. I definitely feel the lack of a significant ending to Primary school effected this cohort of children’s transition to Secondary (which was also affected by Covid).
So, my personal experiences as well as my work with countless Year 6 children led me to create the Step Up To Secondary Course. I’ve learned that times of transition can cause confusion and worry, and children can internalise these completely normal feelings. Keeping emotions inside, only makes the worries grow bigger and can lead our children to creating a pretty scary story in their minds about what Secondary School will be like for them.
Your child may be ready for the next step and feel excited about Year 7, or they may feel afraid of the changes and be full of worries about what is largely, the unknown. The Step Up To Secondary course is for all children, and provides tips and techniques which can be used for life.
As parents and carers, we wish we could protect our children from anything that may wobble them or rock their world, but we simply can’t. What we can do though, is help our children be better aware of their thoughts and their feelings and to educate them on how to deal with BIG EMOTIONS, so that they’re not so afraid of them.
The Step Up To Secondary course will help you to start conversations with your child about change and fresh starts and I hope it will give them and you the opportunity and support to discuss worries and hopes and dreams openly.
The workbook and video included in the course will:
Focus on your children’s strengths and what they can already do well.
Help them to understand why change feels scary.
Explain that they can have lots of mixed feelings about the same thing – and that’s okay.
Teach them how to unjumble their thoughts.
Share techniques which are proven to calm feelings of anxiety.
Encourage them to apply the calming techniques to their specific worries.
Support creativity in their thinking whilst learning to focus on the positives.
If you’d like to buy the course, it’s as simple as sending me an email to emmaATemmajenkinswellbeing.com (the email is written like this to avoid spam! Just change the AT to @) or message me at https://www.facebook.com/EmmaJenkinswellbeing. The cost of the course is £12.99. There’s also the additional option of buying the course to include a number of one to one sessions with your child, either in person or online. Just get in touch if you’d like to know more about this service.
Enjoy the end to Primary, reminisce and pay attention to the good bits and celebrate just how magnificent your child is, just as they are.
With love and support for your child’s ‘Step Up to Secondary.
Emma x