Big feelings,exhaustion and excitement loom for students returning to school

As year 2 to 11 students dust off their uniforms,try on their shoes and clean 17-week-old detritus from their bag as they prepare to return to school,psychologists warn many will feel stressed about another big change during what has been a demanding,exhausting year.

Some students will wonder if their friendship groups will be the same;some will fear they have fallen behind in their school work;and some will mourn the independence of remote learning,and the time they spent with their families.

Students Rex Alameddine,Hamilton Thorley,Hannah Moffat,Patrick Foley Jones at Balmoral Beach on Saturday.

Students Rex Alameddine,Hamilton Thorley,Hannah Moffat,Patrick Foley Jones at Balmoral Beach on Saturday.Steven Siewert

Others,however,will rush from the house without a backward glance,eager to re-embrace the noise and stimulation of school. A few may struggle to treat school seriously,knowing reports are written and summer is not far away.

Rachael Murrihy,the director of The Kidman Centre at the University of Technology Sydney,said the leading causes of anxiety in teenagers were social phobia and separation anxiety – so those students would be hesitant to leave home.

Anxiety could manifest as school refusal or appear as unusually heightened emotions. “There are going to be big feelings for the first couple of weeks,” said Dr Murrihy. “They tend to feel feelings bigger than us. It’s about trying to be as tolerant as possible and remembering this is just a factor of them going from almost a hibernation to being thrust into the world overnight.

“The mere stimulation is going to be enough to be exhausting,and with exhaustion you get the behaviour problems and emotional outbursts.”

Kate Plumb,a child and adolescent psychologist and former school counsellor who worked with teens during lockdown,said many preferred online learning as they received the support they needed from their parents.

“Getting back into the classroom is going to be quite anxiety-provoking for them because they’re not going to get the level of support they now recognise they need,” she said. “Some already have issues – whether it’s school refusal,whether it’s manifesting in behaviour issues.”

Another cohort of students is worried about catching COVID-19,particularly if they have underlying conditions,Ms Plumb said. That’s a particular worry for families whose children attend Schools for Specific Purposes,which cater for students with complex medical,psychological and emotional needs.

Students who had tenuous social connections before lockdown may have lost them altogether. While parents worry about social media,online contact would have helped preserve social connections for many students,and made the adjustment easier.

Ms Plumb said many students would also be aware that reports had been written and the year was close to its end,so might struggle to focus on school work or learning.

“I’m guessing the schools that focus on wellbeing,they’re the ones that will see student engagement more successfully than those who go back into learning and back into the way it was pre-lockdown,” she said.

Head of the Secondary Principals Council Craig Petersen said after last year’s lockdown,students needed to rebuild their relationships and teachers needed to re-establish expectations of classroom behaviour.

“We anticipate there will be some students that have been very isolated,spent a lot of time in their bedrooms,not interacting with anyone else,” he said.

“The first priority will not be to do check-in assessments:it will be to do welfare checks,see how they are travelling,have a positive experience on the return to school and get that environment right,and then focus on teaching and learning.”

The national clinical advisor for Headspace,a mental health organisation focusing on young people,said any kind of change could create feelings of stress,anxiety,worry,fear and missing out on what used to be.

“It’s really important that we acknowledge not everyone will find this time challenging;some will be excited and happy to be back,” he said. “Often feelings of stress and excitement,elation have similar physiological feelings.

“We can remind young people that this is a tough time,it’s a natural,normal feeling about challenge in our lives. We will get through this.”

Rex Alameddine,a year 10 student from Cremorne,is not worried about heading back to class as he had contact with his mates during lockdown.

“It’s kind of been just a really long holiday for me,so I’ve been relaxing heaps,going on my boat,going for a surf,anything to get out of the house,” he said.

“It’ll definitely be weird to not have seen some of my friends for four months but I don’t think it would have changed.”

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Jordan Baker is Chief Reporter of The Sydney Morning Herald. She was previously Education Editor.

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