Emotional wellbeing

Settling in at a new school often takes time and children and young people may feel nervous about the move. This element focuses on pupils’ emotional wellbeing, getting to know the child and understanding their emotional needs in the context of the move.

Key information

Mixed emotions

The first few days at a new school can feel intimidating or unsettling for children and young people. Their emotions about joining a new school can be mixed with those associated with a house, city or country move, most of them often also missing their friends.

School moves may be part of a wider educational journey shaped by disruption or instability, sometimes overlapping with periods of being educated at home.

Young person and older adult talking on a park bench.

School moves may be a result of negative experiences at previous schools and, in such cases, associated with negative emotions or feelings of rejection. Some moves may occur against the wishes of parent/carers and/or children and young people.

Decisions to move school may also be related to parent/carers feeling their children or young people’s needs are not being met, that their school lacks inclusivity or that behaviour policies are inappropriate for their child/young person.

It was a rejection, it was a rejection, weren’t it? And you don’t want to see your child being rejected, so then someone said to me, “Go to <school> but don’t be judgmental because it’s a different school.” And I was like, I’m happy with anything right now and you’ll never forget the first day you met <name of teachers> you were just buzzing, weren’t you? You were like, she gave me a hot chocolate, she sat down with me.

When this happens to children, so when they’re going through this personal storm, if everything is still stable by the end, and the people that are there, who are there, be there to teach you, learn, be there to support you, are still there, then it will help. It will give you a sense of like- I don’t know. It will just give you a sense of safety, and affection

(Norma, parent)

Understanding pupil circumstances

Information about pupil circumstances and context of the school move are essential in understanding and supporting their emotional wellbeing, but information is not always transferred effectively between settings. It’s also important that any information does not translate into barriers to getting the child/young person admitted to the new school. In some cases, schools, families or children/young people prefer to start with a ‘clean slate’ to not let prior school experiences impact them in their new setting.

Supporting wellbeing

When pupils join a new school, teachers and school staff play a key role in supporting their emotional wellbeing. Settling into a new school environment can take time. In the first weeks, it’s essential for educators to help pupils feel safe, valued, and reassured that their needs are understood and supported.

…we work really hard on our welcome and we work really hard on our relationships and that feeling of belonging is huge for us, so that our children know that they have their place in school. It doesn’t matter if they’ve come in late or if they’re coming in at the tail end of year six, it doesn’t matter where they joined us. As soon as they’re here, they’re ours, and they belong to us and we belong to them. And we know that when children move, those relationships can be broken and it’s harder then, to establish those relationships in the next place that they go to for fear of them breaking down again.

(Safiya, Headteacher)

So I think it’s just a matter of fact that when I see that the teachers know each kid by name and I’m saying that because I see them when I’m, most of the times I drop him in the morning … I see the headteacher as well as one more teacher who will be there in the main entrance, they call everybody by name and that’s a very beautiful thing to do that, you know? Because you’re making the child feel special just as he’s entering and you make that warm kind of welcome, it just shines his day off you know, that’s beautiful to do that.

(Luke, parent)

Care-experienced children

As described in the previous section, care-experienced children and young people are amongst those highly likely to experience school moves. This group of pupils may have particular emotional needs, due to their specific circumstances. A recent research report by the charity BECOME has also documented that their moves often happen suddenly (and sometimes during exam periods), which can have profound impact on their wellbeing.

‘So for our children in care, obviously relationships are tricky at the best of time, we know they are, so when children leave a school there is often a sense of bereavement and loss. Those positive relationships that they have established. When we have been able to keep the children at the school (when they have come into care), they already have those relationship with staff at the school. Sometimes, these are the most stable relationships they have had. So there is loss at the one end, but also trying to develop those relationships again with staff at the new school, that is significant. And it very much relies on the receiving school in having the resource and ethos that that is a worthwhile investment and understanding why it is so important.

(Rida, Virtual School Headteacher)

Practical suggestions to support the emotional needs of pupils moving school and their families

The following practical suggestions have been identified by families, schools and local authorities participating in the School MOVES study, as helpful in supporting the emotional needs of children and young people who move school.

Holding admissions meetings to get to know and understand the child/young person’s emotional needs.
Having school-level meetings about vulnerable children/young people to discuss any pupils that might have extra needs, such as additional support, trauma and/or are new joiners.
Providing staff with training to understand the importance of addressing the pupil’s emotional needs (e.g. trauma informed, healing classrooms, Emotional Literacy Support Assistant – ELSA).
Offering taster days or opportunities to come to the school on quiet days, when there are no or fewer children.
Providing picture books or virtual tours (depending on the age and needs of the child or young person) to give them opportunities to familiarise themselves with the school before the first day.
Emphasising positive communication and a sense of community, for example by:
- Verbal praising, through prize awards in first assembly or similar.
- Encouraging the child/young person to try new things (new foods, joining a group, becoming a pupil leader).
- Putting the child/young person on a ‘positive report’ for a few weeks, meaning that they and/or their parent/carers would only hear positive feedback from teachers in this period.
- Maintaining positive and friendly communication and interaction between children/young people and school staff, making the pupils feel cared for, valued and liked.
- Displaying a map to show where everybody is from – celebrating diversity and mobility
- Enabling children/young people to join school trips, even if they join the school after the official deadline for paying or signing up.
Providing opportunities for expressing emotional needs, for example by:
- Providing a quiet classroom or space to go to initially.
- Having a box in the classroom where pupils can put notes describing their emotions or worries, which are then discussed with a member of staff
- Using emotional charts
- Developing ‘bags of safety’: everyone has three little people (someone at school, someone at home, someone else) who are their “people of safety” (Helen, Headteacher)