Entering first year of secondary school – a student’s survival guide

BEGINNING secondary school is one of the landmark moments in your life, but new beginnings can bring both excitement and anxieties for incoming first year students. Here are a few tips on little things that will help make that slightly daunting first year easier for you.

One topic to always focus on is organisation. It is the key word throughout first year. There will be so much going on in your head emotionally that if you can organise yourself it’s a big start. I suggest getting those large mesh zipped pockets for each subject and keeping everything you need for each class in it. This means that at their locker, students can just pull out the one you need. I’d also advise you to put a little timetable up in your bedroom, with reminders: Monday, PE gear; Tuesday, home ec stuff, so you’re not forgetting things.

One of the main challenges to be faced with when starting secondary school is having to make a whole new set of friends, often leaving behind the ones you had in primary school. Remind yourself that everyone is in the same boat when they start.

Talk to them about ways to initiate conversation if they find this difficult. Remember friend- ships take time to develop, don’t panic if you hav- en’t made a friend immediately.

Join clubs and become involved in school life. This can be a good way to make friends with pupils in other forms and year groups.

Taking part in such activities builds confidence, you get to mix with other students from other years and as a result, you settle into the school environment a lot quicker. Even if you may have tried something before, or even if you don’t know what the activity entails, try practi- cally everything available through the school. Homework time is obviously going to increase and with it comes several new adjustments to be dealt with from the primary school homework routine.

Not all subjects are covered every day and not all subjects involve homework. This may mean that you could have two hours of homework on one night and maybe one hour the next night. One of the best skills you can learn is that of effective time management. It may help to develop a homework timetable.

Mark your planner with the deadlines for each subjects’ homework in different coloured pens. Create a to-do list with the pieces of homework needed soonest at the top – whiteboards are great for this.

Get into a routine for getting homework done and make sure you have a suitable space to work in. A quiet shared area can help you to ensure you are not getting distracted!

While it is important to focus on all of those, it is also vital to your health to incorporate time to yourself into the mix.

Know that it’s okay to watch Netflix or take a much-needed nap from time to time. Make sure you are allowing yourself to relax and have fun after working hard, you deserve it!

DID you know that buying a Swappie refurbished iPhone for your teenager can save you up to 40%?

With just a week left of the summer holidays, parents around the country are preparing to get their children and teenagers back to school.

With recent cost of living increases in Ireland heavily impacting back-to-school costs, many families will be feeling the financial burden associated with this time of year.

Swappie, Europe’s leading online destination for buying and selling refurbished iPhones, is reminding people of the benefits of selling an old smartphone and the savings associated with buying refurbished instead of new. Not only is it a much greener choice, it will also help families save money with budgets now tighter than ever.

For many teenagers in Ireland, the purchase of their first smartphone coincides with the beginning of secondary school, which can add significantly to the cost of traditional back-to-school essentials like uniforms, books, and transport.

With many families facing increased bills across the board, Swappie is reminding parents that refurbished tech is one way to help combat elevated costs. Choosing a less pricey refurbished iPhone for a teenager can save parents up to 40% when compared to a new smartphone. People are also being reminded of the benefits of selling their old smartphones.

Research commissioned by Swappie and conducted by Kantar in March and April of this year found that most Irish people are serial accumulators who struggle to get rid of what they no longer use with 1 in 5 people saying they are not interested in selling their old device. In fact, more than half (54%) of the 1,000 18-to-64-year-olds surveyed said they prefer to keep their old device as a spare phone. However, 1 in 3 said they never ended up using it for this purpose.

Parents are being urged to find out how much their old smartphones are worth. This can be done in less than three minutes on Swappie’s website by answering 5 quick questions. The service includes price simulation, free shipping of the device, along with its packaging, and guarantees the bank transfer by the next business day after the smartphone is received at one of the refurbishment centers. In addition, selling your device to Swappie allows the recovery of valuable materials contained in the phones and the reuse of raw materials needed to build new devices.

Country Manager for Swappie Ireland, Casper Andersen says, “traditionally this time of year can place a lot of financial burden on many families so at Swappie we want to remind people of ways in which they can make a saving.

“The start of the school year is also a good time to put our home environment and personal belongings in order as it helps to satisfy the sense of order many of us seek at this time of year. While Irish people have become good at decluttering their wardrobes, there is still a long way to go when it comes to technological decluttering. Selling an old smartphone not only helps you tidy up and earn money, but you are also doing something good for the planet.”

Decluttering your technology is even more convenient this year with Swappie, thanks to offers designed to celebrate Back To School.

To learn more about the process of selling smartphones to Swappie, visit this page https://swappie.com/ ie/