Transition – the process of transferring from one school to another – is a normal stage of a child’s life. It can be an exciting time, representing growth and progress, from kindergarten to elementary school, elementary to high school.

However children spent a significant proportion of their days at school, and the change can sometimes be traumatic. Educational researchers have long established the risks, and the importance of supporting students through transition.

“Third culture kids” are likely to experience transition more often than peers in their home country. Parents moving jobs will often mean their children moving schools, whether they like it or not. The challenges can be even greater for the kids, with international schools often using very different curricula and teaching methods from each other.

We talked to Catherine Powell and Shasha Huang, Co-Directors of the Center for Learning, Language and Enrichment at Keystone Academy, about how parents can help their children through these challenging times in a child’s life.

What are the major changes parents and children can expect when transitioning from (eg) elementary school to high school?

“The important key is how students think about their own intelligence and abilities. Some adjust and thrive well others do not. Some students find increased socializing a challenge. It is important that parents reach out to the school’s support systems if they see their child is struggling.

“Some major changes:

• Different models of teaching and grouping- they might not be with their friends anymore.
• Class size.
• Getting from one class to another.
• Teachers in the middle and high school expect students to be more independent in their self-management.
• There are both physical and developmental changes as they go through puberty.
• They become more engaged with peers and less engaged with parents as they gain more independence.”

What issues do parents need to be aware of when their child is changing schools?

“Before moving to a new school it is important to spend time researching to find the best fit for your child. Parents can help prepare their child for the transition. Parents should be aware of their child’s responses to their new setting, academically emotionally and socially. It is helpful to talk with your child to find out what their concerns are and find a contact person at the school who can help with those concerns. It is usually a homeroom teacher or advisor.”

What can they do to prepare their child for the change?

“Parents can visit the school in advance to meet teachers, tour the building, walk through their schedule and locate their locker. They should be able to identify at least one person and place to go to if they need help. If a school visit is not possible they should look at the school’s website together in detail.”

What warning signs should they look for that their child might not be settling?

“If after 4-5 weeks students are showing signs of depression, anxiety, withdrawal or increased misbehaviors, parent should contact the school.

• Loss of interest
• Short temper
• Withdrawing from others
• Changes in sleeping or eating habits.
• Refusal to go to school
• Isolation or bullying”

Under what circumstances should parents consider moving their child to a different school?

“Ultimately parents want their children to be happy so if a child is not happy and the parents have done what they can it might be time to consider moving schools, preferably at the summer break. A move mid year can be very difficult for kids.”

Meet Keystone Academy at the 7th Beijing International School Expo (BISE) hosted by beijingkids and JingKids on February 18-19, 2017 from 10am-4pm at the Crowne Plaza Beijing Chaoyang U-Town. Find out more information about the event here.

We suggest you take advantage of one of the few events in Beijing for families that are actually free – register now for a quick and painless breeze through the check-in line.

Photo: courtesy of Keystone Academy

Imagine having been an expatriate during a time when a handwritten letter took months to reach the recipient and then months for a response to return. Technologies like Skype make expat life seem bearable for families. Nonetheless, making a home thousands of miles away from where one was born breeds tough issues, especially for children and teens.  Identity, language, and child-rearing culture clashes are obvious issues every international must face, but most expats will also wrestle with what to do when grandparents are ill, cousins are born, or one working parent needs to leave for a few months.  Sonya Porcher, Researcher and Pre-Kindergarten Instructor at 3e International School, recommends parents use books to “assist students with dealing with their feelings and emotions in situations where they feel hopeless or powerless.”  This may help in “building the student’s level of comfort so that they can develop open communication with parents and teachers.”  She advises that parents communicate with the child and then the child’s teacher, especially for children experiencing difficult family anxieties. “Share with the child’s teachers when there are changes at home that may cause the child to behave differently, act out, or withdraw from the academic and social school environments.”
For preschool children, Porcher recommends I Love You All Day Long by Francesca Rusackas, The Kissing Hand by Audrey Penn, and Waterbugs and Dragonflies by Doris Stickney. I Love You All Day Long and The Kissing Hand both address how a child can be loved by a parent or family member when there is separation.  The parental figures in these books reassure the child-sized main characters that their love will follow them no matter where they are or what they are doing. Waterbugs and Dragonflies ”uses metamorphosis to explain death to children.  Children learn how when people die, they are waiting for us in a better place,” says Porcher.
For primary aged students, Porcher recommends The Boy Who Didn’t Want to Be Sad by Rob Goldblatt, The Invisible String by Patrice Karst, and When Dinosaurs Die by Laurie Krasny Brown.

Sonya Porcher of 3e with the book Kissing Hands.

The title character in The Boy Who Didn’t Want to Be Sad attempts to remove all sadness from his life by removing its sources, from broken toys to family members and friends. “In the end, he is left in a dark room and realizes that he has gotten rid of the things that make him happy,” Porcher comments. Both The Invisible String and When Dinosaurs Die focus on helping the reader cope with loss and separation, primarily caused by death. Porcher encourages parents to read her recommended books with their children, “discuss how they feel, and listen to [their children’s]thoughts about the stories.”
Salina Sanka, English Teacher in IB and IGCSE at the British School of Beijing, Shunyi, has been in Beijing for seven years and is personally familiar with raising children in an international context, as she has two daughters. One is also at BSB, Shunyi in Year 13, and the other is headed to the University of Manchester, UK, to study Science. The book she recommends is best for high school students and is the final book in a trilogy by Amitav Ghosh. Set in the 1800s and in part following the British empire’s expansion to seek control of both India and China, A Flood of Fire explores ”thematic concerns of identity creation, anonymity, and dichotomy that come with travel, and settling away from the familiar,” Sanka remarks.
The novel follows two men with mixed heritages as they trade and travel for economic gain.  One character’s “clash of cultures… drives his ambition and in part fuels a recklessness with dire consequences for the characters around him,” Sanka explained. She adds, “[Ghosh’s] characters have an opportunity to re-create and transform themselves without the fear of censure from those who know them. Class and caste structures often strictly adhered to in their homeland are re-invented and various characters have the freedom to choose where they think they belong.” As teens often struggle with identity, this large novel would be perfect for a long winter holiday or an addition to a rigorous literature curriculum.

Erinda of BSB, Shunyi poses with the book recommended by Salina Sanka.

This article originally appeared on page 31 of the October 2016 Issue of beijingkids magazine. Click here for your free online copy. To find out how you can obtain a hard copy, contact distribution@truerun.com.

With children, transitions are a constant, and it’s the big milestones that we parents so easily recall. Babies smile, eat, and crawl, and those are huge events. Toddlers walk, grow teeth, potty train and talk – wow. Then little ones start school with preschool, kindergarten, and who doesn’t remember that very first day of their child’s 1st grade? Seems like yesterday.

Elementary school has its transitions, all of them fun and important. On one hand they go by slowly – after all, children are there for about five or six years. On the other hand, it’s over in the blink of an eye. And then? Middle school.

That’s where I venture with my oldest next year. The past several weeks of school have been spent preparing our kids for the changes ahead. There will be completely new classroom settings, where the kids switch teachers and subjects throughout the day. Counselors, principals, specialist teachers – all different. Even the library and cafeteria will be new for these students, as they transition from one section of the large building to a completely different one – physically, only steps away; mentally, a world apart.

Students will now have an opportunity to try interesting subjects by selecting their own “enrichment” classes. Parents are encouraged to step back from that process and allow the kids to branch out a bit. Study habits, of course, will be a necessary change as the workload will increase accordingly, and with their own laptops to take responsibility for both at school and at home, it becomes a bigger step. And now, lockers! 

It’s all very exciting for the kids. Sure, there are some nerves now that will continue in August when school begins. But it’s a new transition, and a huge new milestone.

As a parent of an almost middle schooler, I’m in awe. I’m nervous for her, with no real need to be. I’m uncomfortable not knowing about the differences I should expect, and I’m not even the one going to school. But mostly I’m struck by this new chapter in our family, for our firstborn. Days ago, wasn’t it, that she was just learning to walk and talk? And now with her growth and independence emerging so quickly, it’s something I’m both proud and wistful to see.

Welcome to Middle School.

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