Be upbeat about it and let him know there will be lots of fun things for him to do while at school. Also reassure him you’ll be looking forward to hearing all about his day when you pick him up.

Pack a little surprise in their lunch box.

Our local school had initiation classes for kids starting school soon. Usually a couple of hours every Friday through November. This helped my kids immensely

If your school has a settleing program use it, my local school has just started in the last year where once a month from April you can take your child about to start to school for a hour and drop them off so they can get to know the students in their class and the teachers at that school. Not only that by the time they start the kids will know where the toliets are, the canteen is and where the office is and feel settled in that enviroment. Hopefully in that time they might make a friend, I gather in that time they assess the kids see who gets along together well and who will that extra little bit of help and it make the class planning of their class much easier. If your school doesnt do is i Would suggest you put in a suggestion so your future kids transition is so much eaier. My oldest son just had three sessions so he found the transition so much harder. but my daughter who strats next year will find it so much easier with 9 sessions.

No long goodbyes and make sure he sees your happy and that you will see him after.

i would start before the day getting all ready and looking forward to going,make it a happy occasion with no stress or tears on your behalf,even though its hard,i know.makeit sound some thing to look forward to. good luck.

Our son started school this year (NSW – Kindergarten) he has always been one to not like change and was a stickler for routine. The orientation days especially the first one was an absolute disaster I left him screaming (which tore my heart out). To ensure that he could be prepared for what was ahead these are the things I did:
Drove past the school (it was a new school getting built) so it was interesting for him to look at the progress.
I made up a book that we looked at every night – it had photos of him at orientation day, photos of the school being built, photos of his teacher and photos of the school uniform.
Not applicable to you but the best book I found was ‘starting school’ and it told the story of six children and their experiences one boy was hanging onto his mummy leg and this allowed me to engage his thought about why the boy was do this – to try and talk about his fears as well.
First day arrived and it went without a hitch – no tears (to say we were thrilled was an understatement)
Good luck to you…

Quick goodbyes!

Such an emotional time. So much going through your head. Going through the child’s is not your memories of school. It’s a blank page. So think nerves and talk fresh and fun. Reassurance about who will pick them up and where.
Take one day at a time with big hugs at start at end

dont hang around the school to long as the longer you are there the hard it is for your son to adjust, especially for the first few weeks, until he gets into a routine, its hard but weve all had to do it

I think one of the most important things to remember is to not let your child get over tired as it is a stressful time for a child and being over tired just exaggerates the stress. Good luck.

I am in the same boat, my eldest started prep this year too. I have found that involving her in most decision making around school has made it easiest. she really liked the school(and so did my partner and I) so she felt that she chose her school, chosen her lunch box, what lunch/ snacks she would like to eat, her shoes and art smock. Plus routine, find a routine that works for your family and stick to it. Works wonders with the transition to school.

Be organised but don’t stress! Get everything ready the night before each school day. If possible, have a separate shelf / drawer for school clothes so it is easy for them to find their school clothes. Don’t talk it up too much, but don’t let any of your fears show to the child either

I’ve been involving my son in all the important decisions, like picking a school bag and a lunch box and trying on his uniform to make sure it all fits and looks good. I’ve found he’s getting very excited and really looking forward to it. We talk every couple of days about all the great and exciting activities he’ll get to do and he’s just drawn a picture of his family for his teacher, that’s waiting in his school bag, to give to his teacher on the very first day of school.

Build it up to be awesome, don’t cry in front of your child on the first day and pack healthy lunches with little love notes!