Seven Up aims to support parents and their children moving from P7 to secondary school. Our goal is to help parents and their children prepare mentally, socially and physically for the transition from primary to secondary school. There will be parent and child sessions, drop in sessions, mindfulness and referrals to other services that will help to make the transition as smooth as possible. Our sessions will focus on preparing parents and their children for secondary school, topics we will cover include; healthy eating, internet safety, timetabling, homework’s and important information for starting school.
Topics
Children and young people need the right balance of food and nutrients to develop and grow. Healthy eating is about getting that balance right, in order to provide enough of the important nutrients. Healthy eating is a fundamental part of school life. We will deliver practical activities, talk about snack options, healthy lunch box ideas and school policies (allergies, energy drinks etc).
The mindfulness sessions are delivered by Mini Explorers, and are aimed at educating parents with the skills and tools to take time out and enjoy mindfulness activities at home to help with behavioural issues, anxiety and stress and promote positive attachment. The children’s sessions include sensory play, yoga and mindfulness. It helps them to engage and provides them with positive experiences, develops knowledge and promotes skills
Technology is constantly changing and parents can often feel that their children know more about the internet than they do. As children get older, they become more independent and the internet becomes a more important part of their life. This change can be extremely intimidating for the parents. Largely the internet will be used as a positive tool for the development of the children, but it is important to talk about the dangers and the seriousness of internet safety with them. We will discuss local case studies, watch videos and equip parents with the knowledge to keep their children safe.
One of the biggest changes from primary to secondary school is that you have a lot of different teachers, subjects and books. We aim to help the parents understand how the children will be feeling when starting a new school. There is a lot of new experiences and people to take in and some children can feel very overwhelmed. We aim to help the children understand that change is good and help them understand ways of staying organised.
Giving children their independence is an important part of the transition to secondary School. With the Parents we will discuss how to give their children more responsibility. Suggestions, tips and scenarios will be discussed with parents during this session.
We will provide parents with important information that is needed for making the transition to Secondary School. In the session we will include; dates, deadlines and links to websites for free school meal forms and bus pass.
This will be an opportunity for parents to meet with the Moving Up team to discuss any worries or ask questions in a one to one environment.