Back to School: Five Strategies to Keep You Sane

You’re tanned, relaxed, chilled-out and laid-back… until you hear the words ‘back to school’. It happens to us all: the dawning realisation that the freedom of the summer holidays is a thing of the past. Here are five top tips to help you dip your toe back into school waters.Embrace the back to school routineSure, it’s beenlovely to lie in ‘til midday and then eat curry for breakfast, but there’ssomething reassuring about routine. Set your alarm to give you time in themornings, make sure you have your wardrobe ironed and ready to go, and planyour meals for the first week back. Most importantly, get to bed at a decenttime: you need that beauty sleep!Set yourself some back to school goalsWhat do you wantto achieve this year? Is there a particular area of professional developmentyou want to focus on? Of course, we all want to be Super Teacher and perfect ateverything, but given that that is impossible, choose just three areas you wantto improve or focus on. That way, you’re setting yourself up to achieve, ratherthan fail.Organise, organise, organise!Get your plannerout and the data filled in. Sort your seating plans. Get hold of the schoolcalendar, and write significant dates in your own diary. Get into yourclassroom and tidy up the detritus of last year. (Twinkl has some greatsecondary display materials to get things looking bright and engaging.) Thefirst few days of term are likely to be chaotic – do whatever you can now tokeep the confusion to a minimum!Don’t sweat the small stuffNo matter whatyou do, something will go wrong. It’s guaranteed. Rather than agonising overthese little bumps in the road, learn to embrace them. If there’s somethingwhich can be learned, take it on board. But then move on. If you start the yearwith this philosophy, then getting back to school will be far less stressful.Remember: back to school is a marathon andnot a sprintIt’s so tempting to power ahead when you get back after the six-week break. You’re invigorated and energised. Sure, you can take on that after school club! Extra classes? No problem! A school residential? Just what you always dreamed of! All these schemes may seem achievable now when you’ve just had six restful weeks, but imagine how you’ll feel at Christmas. Or Easter. Sure, volunteer for projects and be a team player, but don’t compromise your own wellbeing. Pace yourself. And remember the most important message of all: you got this. Subscribe to Beyond for access to thousands of secondary teaching resources. You can sign up for a free account here and take a look around at our free resources before you subscribe too. You might also want to read: Seven Things Every Teacher Should Have in Their DeskSort Out Your Classroom! Simple Strategies for Classroom Organisation

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Back to School: Five Strategies to Keep You Sane

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