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1. Dealing with anxiety and bullying

, Psychologist, Faculty of Health Sciences: 聽

鈥淎nxiety about starting school, or returning to school, can happen all too easily. Sometimes it鈥檚 about whether a child will 鈥榝it in鈥� and sometimes it鈥檚 about being understood by others with different interests to them.

鈥淎ll too often, children worry about returning to school and the chances of being bullied. That鈥檚 why it is important to remind your children that if they encounter any form of bullying, that they should never remain quiet about it, as a lot can be done to stop it in its tracks!

鈥淏ullying is unacceptable behaviour, regardless of it being face-to-face or online, there simply is no excuse for it.

鈥淓mpower your children to speak up by coming to you or a teacher first. This will help them feel validated for their concern. If they or someone they know is being treated poorly, let them know it is a good thing to do something about it soon so the problem can be rectified before further hurt is caused.鈥�.

2. Getting off to a good start

, Professor of Teacher Education and the Arts, Sydney School of Education and Social Work:

鈥淭here are many ways parents and educators can help children get off to a good start at school聽and experience聽success in the school year 鈥� from helping children聽understand the transition to school, to talking about expectations children (and their parents) might have, to establishing strong teacher-parent relationships, to making sure that communication stays open.

鈥淟earning in and through the Arts 鈥� whether it be,聽for example, fostering creativity and imaginative play, engaging students in learning across the curriculum,聽motivating reluctant readers 鈥� can enable children to聽develop confidence, discipline, critical thinking, perseverance and problem-solving skills which can enhance their social and emotional wellbeing as well as their academic success during the school year.鈥�

3. Develop clear speech and encourage reading

, Discipline of Speech Pathology, Faculty of Health Sciences:

鈥淒uring infancy, children learn to hear and say words. When they start school, they learn to read and write those words. An important foundation for literacy success is clear speech.

鈥淐hildren鈥檚 speech should be clear and understood by others by age four years. If parents are concerned about their child鈥檚 speech, the best time to seek help is during the years before school鈥攖he toddler and preschool years. 聽

鈥淲ithout help, children who start school with speech problems face an increased risk of reading problems. With the right help at the right time, children with speech problems can learn to speak well and read well.鈥�

, Associate Professor, English and Literacy Education and Pro Dean (Education), Sydney School of Education and Social Work:

鈥淐hildren鈥檚 literature is a great catalyst for children to learn the skills of reading and writing. More importantly, reading for pleasure is related to habits of the mind that cut across issues of socioeconomic status, support lifelong learning and encourage empathy.鈥�

4. Act now on stuttering

, Director of the Australian Stuttering Research Centre, Faculty of Health Sciences:

鈥淚f your child stutters and is starting school this year, now is the time to act. The school years can be a wonderfully supportive experience for a child who stutters, or they can make it particularly difficult for the child to deal with this speech disorder.

鈥淚t is important that you talk to the teacher and your speech pathologist to be sure that they understand your child鈥檚 needs and work together to support your child.鈥�

5. Coaching is not necessarily the best investment

Professor Dianna Kenny, Professor of Psychology, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences:

鈥淐oaching colleges in Australia are self-regulating, which means that they are unregulated and not accountable. They make unsubstantiated claims about their successes, but have persistently refused to allow independent researchers to assess their outcomes.

鈥淭he only large study on coaching effectiveness in Australia (conducted by myself) showed that coaching did not bestow any academic benefits on children who were already performing well in school.

鈥淐oaching is time taken away from socialising with peers and family. Social and聽emotional development and the development of self-regulation have significant impacts on the cognitive development of children. Adult-directed activities deprive children of important opportunities for development.鈥�

6. How to identify giftedness

,聽PhD Candidate, Sydney School of Education and Social Work:

鈥淕iftedness is easily masked and often misunderstood. Underachievement is a common problem facing gifted children, their parents and their teachers.

鈥淓arly, sensitive and accurate identification is key to providing appropriate ongoing support for gifted children.

鈥淥ne of the greatest challenges for teachers is understanding the socio-emotional and cognitive needs of gifted children in order to support them and their families.鈥�

7. For teachers, it鈥檚 all about collaboration

, Occupational Therapy Discipline, Faculty of Health Sciences:

鈥淭eachers are getting ready to welcome a new community of learners into their classrooms. But accommodating the diversity of learning needs in one classroom is a big challenge.

鈥淨uality learning can be achieved by optimising joint effort among adults. Collaboration between parents, health care providers and educators can have an important impact on healthy child development, school readiness, and educational achievement.

鈥淭eachers collaborate with a wide range of educational and related service providers to enable students with diverse learning needs to get the most out of school. There are many ways for educators to make more effective use of therapy and other related support services at school so that all learners benefit.鈥�