As schools begin to welcome their 2025 students with orientation programs, it is interesting to reflect that this is the first cohort of children that were born during the pandemic to start school. Should we expect anything different? 

I’ll start with the obvious caveat which is of course that research into the impacts of children born in the pandemic (and their parents) is in its preliminary stages and is ongoing. With that being said, some of the potential differences observed between this cohort and those pre-pandemic are: 

Developmental factors: 

• Delayed social and motor skills: some studies indicate that children who had reduced interaction with others due to lockdowns and fear of illness have experienced delays in their social and motor development.
• Language: there are many studies unpacking the impact of screen time on communication skills, range of vocabulary and non-verbal cues. The pandemic saw many of the children that are starting school next year learn more about the world from a screen than experience. The lack of a language-rich environment and experiential learning has left some children with a lower level of language development than the cohorts that have preceded them.
• Behavioural changes: It should be noted that the studies in this area are in their early stages and there is a large variance between individual children but preliminary findings suggest that due to the unusual circumstances of their early years, there is an increased prevalence of anxiety and a lower capacity for emotional regulation in children born during the pandemic.  

Environmental factors: 

• Reduced social interaction: Due to social distancing measures in place when these children were born, many have had a reduced social circle. Not only have they had fewer social interactions, but the nature of those interactions has been less nurturing for example a baby born in 2020 may not have had the cuddle and physical proximity with grandparents that they might have had in 2019. 
• Increased parental stress: For many parents, particularly first-time parents, the pandemic added additional complexity, stress and anxiety. With the safest option being to stay home and isolate, many children had restricted opportunities to explore new environments, participate in playdates and interact with other children.  

What can we do? 

The good news is that all the good things that already work within your orientation processes still apply.  

1. Gradual Exposure
2. Positive reinforcement
3. Clear expectations (with parents and students)
4. Practice routines
    

The two areas that you may want to consider are: 

• Emotional regulation – the first step in emotional regulation is recognising your own emotions. For many of these children, they will be experiencing new emotions in a school setting and certainly developing new strategies for regulating those emotions. It is important to be proactive in setting behavioural expectations and routines but also being mindful that uniquely to this cohort, a greater proportion of the children may not have the strategies to draw upon to regulate their emotions in this new environment. Therefore, developing a shared understanding of emotions and modelling, teaching and demonstrating appropriate strategies is critical from the outset. As with all good teaching practices, provide clear, predictable expectations and providing clear actionable feedback, coupled with extrinsic motivation and positive reinforcement will minimise the impact of preschool experiences and set these students up for successful schooling. Running check-ins and monitoring emotions is a great way to anchor this development. 
• Strengthened partnerships with parents – as always, the stronger the partnership between the parents/carers and schools the better. It is important to remember the exceptional complexity that the parents of your 2025 cohort have navigated getting their child to your school. Many of them have been anxious about the safety of their child in a way that previous parents have not had to be. It is worth considering being proactive in communicating with parents about the emotional wellbeing of their child in the first few weeks of school. Parents will ask their children how their day was and students at school for the first time will be tired when this conversation occurs, often resulting in them communicating a more negative experience than they actually had. It is recommended to run a daily emotion check in with students, record how they are feeling when they are actually in class and share this with parents. Proactively communicating emotional wellbeing will give the parents confidence that their child is safe and being cared for and reduce their anxiety about the transition to school. This reduced anxiety in parents contributes directly to reduced anxiety in students. It is also a great opportunity to strengthen the partnership with parents and share strategies about reduced screen time, healthy sleep and nutrition, fostering healthy social interactions and fostering consistent expectations about behaviour and emotional regulation.

[ Rydr Tracy is the Head of Education at Life Skills Group and former Director of Strategic Priorities at CESE. He is a specialist in evidence-informed practice in educational innovation, with a career focus on strategic change that improves student outcomes. He draws on a rare blend of successful experience in schools, system leadership roles and industry practice – experience that has given him a deep understanding of the complexities of the education sector from the classroom to the boardroom and a demonstrated capacity to generate practical recommendations that are grounded in context and evidence. ]