It’s hard to believe, but it’s just a couple of weeks before the summer holiday is over (even less in some states!). Every year we think six weeks of holidays is too much holiday, but every year it slides by in the blink of an eye. Cue ‘back to school’ (or in our case ‘back to high school’) chaos.
To get everyone locked and loaded, we asked our resident teens Ari and Ches for their best tips for high schoolers to prepare to go back to school.
Here are their very helpful back to high school tips!
PS – if you’ve got a new high school starter, these articles will help a lot:
- 11 tips for Year 7 newbies from older high school kids
- 21+ things to know about starting high school
- I’m not ready for high school (but my son seems to be)
1. Try on your uniform
It has been quite a while since we’ve had to wear our uniforms so it’s very possible you’ve started to outgrow it. So, dust off your uniform (if you can find it) and try it on.
Also try on shoes, jumpers, sports gear and even your hat! If it doesn’t fit, now you’ll have plenty of time to get a new one… or finally unpick that crooked hem you put in at the start of Year 7.
2. Start waking up on time
This is the hardest part, but it’s gotta be done. You need to use these last couple of weeks of the holidays to get your circadian rythm back in order.
Getting up early (or earlier) now is very important so you aren’t too stressed about getting up for school. If you’ve spent all holidays sleeping until midday the thought of rising at 6.30am is so stressful it’s enough to stop you getting to sleep in the first place.
First things first: pull out your alarm clock and actually set it to the proper time (daylight savings if your state follows it). That way, you can set an alarm for the right time. You should also get around to setting up the bedtime function on your phone. The time you go to bed matters just as much as the time you get up each day.
Check out this guide to becoming a morning person!
3. Go back to your ‘school’ routine (or a modified version)
Hopefully, you’ve made yourself a nice little routine for the holidays, but it’s time to adjust it a little so you can fit all the fun things in around school.
Start factoring in things like travel time and getting ready into your everyday routine. Going back to your ‘school’ routine before you actually go back to high school will make the transition a lot easier and less jarring on your mental health.
4. Go back to regulated meals times during the week
It is important to go back to only eating at the dedicated times during the school day so you can ‘train’ your body to get hungry at those times. That way you’ll be less uncomfortable throughout the school day.
This also means you may have to include more wholefoods including protein, fibre and fat, so you’ll be sustained by only two meals during the school day.
5. Re-pack your school bag
It would be awful to get to school and realise you don’t have something that you desperately need, like your pencil case or your water bottle. It’s a good idea to put the things you won’t need in the next two weeks back into your school bag so you know you have them ready to go.
You may even take this opportunity to pack your bag even better than it was before!! Check out this: pack your bag ready for anything.
6. Start socialising outside of your close friend group
This might be jarring after a holiday of friend bubbles, but try to socialise with people that aren’t in your ‘circle.’ Going back to high school is awkward enough without being faced with people you accidentally ignored all holidays.
Yes, that means snapping a few of your periphery mates before school goes back. To break the ice, just message them and ask them how their holiday is going.
7. Check if your equipment is still ‘up to standard’
Check that all your equipment is still in good condition and usable for another term. That means getting rid of all the movies and shows you downloaded over the hols to free up space for actual school work.
Personally, my laptop can’t hold a charge for longer than, like, an hour anymore. This wasn’t an issue on during the holidays because I just plugged i in all day, but now and I need to get a new battery. Or a new laptop.
8. Organise your laptop
It can be hard to stay organised at school if you don’t have a proper system to keep digital files in order.
I recommend making a folder labelled by your year group in your Google Drive (this year, mine would be called Year 12), then dividing that folder into subjects (eg. Maths, Science, Art, etc.). Then you can easily find documents if you need to refer to them.
You can also upload PDFs and other files that you have to download for class onto your Google Drive so everything is in the same place.
9. Read these posts to get ready to go back
There are plenty of articles on Mumlyfe to help you get organised, but here are some of the ones I recommend.
10 really good lunchbox sandwich recipes
Saying goodbye to warm meals for lunch isn’t so hard when you back your lunchbox with one of these!
It’s official: being nice wins more friends in high school
Remember this whenever you feel insecure about friendships
21 study tips to help you knuckle down and be brilliant
Keeping effective study notes all term makes studying for exams so much easier.
10. Don’t stress about it
Many of you won’t be stressed at all about the transition back to high school, but it can be very hard for some people. If you aren’t worried about it, try and support those who are and check in with your friends every so often.
But if you are worried (which is a completely fair reaction to a change in routine), it’s okay. Just try and remember that these are the same people you’ve been at school with for years (in most cases). Not much really changes, so once you’re over the initial BTS shock, you’ll settle back in very quickly.
Besides, worrying about it now won’t do you any good, so remember to relax.
Feature image by Ave Calvar via Unsplash+; leeping with phone alarm Getty Images via Unsplash+; bag contents by Arabella Mandile; laptop photo by Sincerely Media