My Top 5 Tips to Help with the Return to School This Year - Matthew Syed

September 3rd 2020

Matthew Syed is a journalist, author and highly acclaimed speaker on the subject of mindset and high performance, He is also the author of bestselling children's books You Are Awesome and The You Are Awesome Journal. Drawing examples from sport, science and even business, his latest book Dare to Be You empowers young readers to follow their own path, love what makes them different and question the world around them.

Matthew shares his top tips to share with students on dealing with change, building resilience and ways to silence self-doubt, to help fortify them for the return to school post-lockdown.

Schools and their staff have been working tirelessly over the past few months to create an environment which is safe yet still an exciting place for children to learn. But the return to school this year is likely to be a time of additional anxiety for many pupils, parents and teachers. Many children have not been at school for nearly 6 months and as the new term starts there will be the usual trepidation that any new school year brings, magnified by the challenges that the world of socially distanced learning will pose.

In my new book, Dare To Be You, I talk about the importance of children learning to cope with change, about their building resilience and finding the best ways to silence the voice of self-doubt that many of us have inside our heads. I call this voice Kid Doubt. The voice that can make you anxious, worried about fitting in or hold you back from doing the things you really want to. The thing for children to understand is that everyone (and I mean everyone) in the world has their own Kid Doubt. In Dare to Be You I explain how I have built strategies to try and silence my own Kid Doubt over the years, ever since I had some incidents that didn’t end well when I let his voice get a little too loud. (One involved a disaster at the local bakery while trying to fit in with the ‘cool kids’, and another involved my Dad’s car and Kevin Keegan, but I will let you read Dare To Be You for the full story on those …)

So, calling on some of the themes of Dare to Be You, these are my 5 top tips that I hope will help fortify children for their return to school post-lockdown.

Tip 1: Be Flexible

The COVID-19 pandemic has forced change upon our lives, but adapting to change is something that we have likely already faced in the past or will encounter in the future. The world that children will encounter on leaving school will be very different from the one their parents inhabited. Recognising that change is inevitable and remembering how adaptable we can be (look at the changes we have coped with over the last 6 months!) helps us to be flexible and resilient when things don’t go exactly as we might have planned.

Tip 2: Encourage Them To Ask For Help

Recent research suggests that the peak age for asking questions is 4 years old. After this, children start asking fewer and fewer questions each day. You see, 4 year olds aren’t worried about looking foolish if they ask a silly question, they believe that the best way to learn about the world is to be curious. Kid Doubt can hold children back from asking the questions they would like to, especially in a new and unfamiliar situation such as when starting a new school or just going back to an existing school for a new academic year after a long break such as they’ve had. Encourage children to be brave, to ask questions and to reach out and ask for help if they are having difficulties. There are lots of people (in school and home settings) who would be willing to offer the support they need.

Tip 3: Be Your Own Action Hero!

Many years ago, when Richard Branson’s plane from Puerto Rico was cancelled, he was stranded. He might have had to wait several days for a rescheduled flight, and he wanted to get back to see his girlfriend (now his wife). Rather than waiting around, he picked up the phone to see how much it would cost to charter an aircraft to take him and the other passengers on their journey. Turns out it would $39 per person! So he took action, he chartered the plane and sold all the other passengers tickets back home. And off they went … 

And here’s the thing. This year, there are likely to be lots of changes at school. From the way you and your pupils navigate the school building, to the way your class is organised, to the way you teach and your pupils learn. It is likely to feel very different. And it might be the case that you face some challenges. So rather than waiting for someone else to fix things for you, think about what you can do to make things work better for you. Be prepared to take action for yourself.

Tip 4: Always Be Kind

Not everyone is kind. But kindness is amazing (I know, I know … you’ve heard this one before, but bear with me, couldn’t we all benefit from some kindness?). Because not only does kindness make others feel much better, it helps you build trust and create better support networks. Small acts of kindness create a trickle effect, which can gradually grow to build an avalanche of positivity. This results in other people having the confidence to know that they can rely on you – and before you know it – you have a great support system to rely on in difficult times!

Tip 5: Dare To Be You (this year and for the future!)

Encourage children to start as they mean to go on this September. Encourage them to follow their own path, make choices that are right for them and have the courage to do the things that really matter to them. Let them know that they shouldn’t worry about fitting in, everyone is different in so many ways. That it’s great to embrace your differences. Because in the end, your differences are likely to be some of your greatest strengths ...

 Dare to Be You is out now.