How to talk to your kids about back to school nerves

Schools, parents and pupils are preparing for the new school year, but for many this can be a nerve-wracking time.

Mindworks Surrey, an NHS-led mental health service for children and young people, has launched Small Steps Back to School, external – a campaign offering practical advice on common back-to-school concerns.

Aoife Kearney-Grieve, a cognitive behavioural therapist at the organisation said there was a lot that goes into school absences, but anxiety was definitely a factor.

“Covid had a very big impact, especially for those that were going through their developmental stages,” she said.

“They missed out on things like socialisation, communication, just even figuring out how school works in general.”

According to the Department for Education data, external, Surrey pupils missed 5.8% of school sessions during the 2025 autumn term.

This is below the national average but the figure remains above the county’s pre-pandemic level of 4.3% from 2019, after the Surrey absence rate peaked at 7.0% in 2022.

In the autumn term 2025, 15.1% of pupils were classed as persistently absent, meaning they missed more than one in ten school sessions.

Here are Kearney-Grieve’s tips for handling first day anxiety: