In the days be­fore the new aca­d­e­m­ic year be­gins, the quest for books, uni­forms and shoes con­tin­ues. Health is of­ten ig­nored but a child who is ex­haust­ed, hun­gry, anx­ious, de­hy­drat­ed or strug­gling to see the board can­not suc­ceed.

Sleep pat­terns may have changed dur­ing the va­ca­tion so it is wise to move bed­time and wak­ing ear­li­er sev­er­al days be­fore­hand. Chil­dren aged six to twelve gen­er­al­ly need nine to twelve hours of sleep, while teenagers need eight to ten. Sleep sup­ports at­ten­tion, mem­o­ry, mood and phys­i­cal health.

Late-night mes­sages, videos and games re­duce sleep. Charge de­vices out­side the bed­room where pos­si­ble and cre­ate a pre­dictable “wind-down” rou­tine.

Pack bags, fill bot­tles and plan break­fast to avoid morn­ing stress. It need not be elab­o­rate or ex­pen­sive. Oats, eggs, sa­da roti, fruit, yo­ghurt or a sand­wich can do the job. Aim for fi­bre and pro­tein rather than a sweet­ened drink or ul­tra-processed snacks. If a child can­not eat at dawn, send a sen­si­ble packed op­tion for lat­er.

Wa­ter should be the every­day drink. Chil­dren may not recog­nise de­hy­dra­tion un­til headache, tired­ness, poor con­cen­tra­tion or dizzi­ness ap­pears. Those in­volved in sport need planned re­hy­dra­tion breaks, shade and adults who are aware of these symp­toms. A child who be­comes con­fused, faints or seems un­usu­al­ly hot dur­ing ac­tiv­i­ty needs ur­gent med­ical at­ten­tion.

Keep per­ish­able foods cold with an ice pack in an in­su­lat­ed bag and hot foods in a suit­able con­tain­er. Fruit, veg­eta­bles, ground pro­vi­sions, whole grains and pro­tein can sit be­side the oc­ca­sion­al treat. Boxed meals from the school feed­ing pro­gramme must ad­here to strict nu­tri­tion­al and hy­giene re­quire­ments.

Check the child’s im­mu­ni­sa­tion record against our na­tion­al sched­ule and ask the health cen­tre or doc­tor about any­thing missed. Vac­ci­na­tions are freely avail­able through­out the pub­lic sys­tem. Re­fill pre­scrip­tions if need­ed and arrange over­due med­ical, den­tal, vi­sion or hear­ing re­views.

Chil­dren may squint, copy wrong­ly, move clos­er to the tele­vi­sion, com­plain of headaches or ap­pear inat­ten­tive if strug­gling to see. Hear­ing dif­fi­cul­ty could be mis­tak­en for dis­obe­di­ence. Den­tal pain can be a night­mare.

For chil­dren with asth­ma, di­a­betes, epilep­sy, se­vere al­ler­gies or oth­er chron­ic con­di­tions, meet the rel­e­vant school staff ear­ly. Pro­vide clear writ­ten in­struc­tions, emer­gency con­tacts and any pre­scribed ac­tion plan. Un­ex­pired med­ica­tion should be in its orig­i­nal, la­belled con­tain­er with the child’s name and prop­er di­rec­tions. Make sure the adults re­spon­si­ble know what the med­i­cine is, when it is used and whom to call. Old­er chil­dren should al­so grad­u­al­ly learn to un­der­stand and man­age their con­di­tion.

Schools bring chil­dren and germs to­geth­er! Sage ad­vice still works: wash hands prop­er­ly be­fore eat­ing and af­ter the wash­room, cov­er coughs or sneezes, avoid shar­ing bot­tles and do not touch the face un­nec­es­sar­i­ly. Chil­dren with fever, re­peat­ed vom­it­ing or di­ar­rhoea, or who are plain­ly too un­well should stay home.

A dis­creet pe­ri­od kit con­tain­ing pads, spare un­der­wear and a seal­able bag may be ap­pro­pri­ate. Se­vere pain, pro­longed or very heavy bleed­ing re­quire in­ves­ti­ga­tion and can con­tribute to iron de­fi­cien­cy.

Choose a bag with two broad, padded straps. Use both straps, keep the heav­i­est books close to the back and re­move un­nec­es­sary weight.

Chil­dren cross­ing roads need re­peat­ed teach­ing. Younger chil­dren should trav­el with an adult. Seat belts or age-ap­pro­pri­ate re­straints re­main es­sen­tial even on short trips and no child should be left in a parked ve­hi­cle. Dri­vers must slow down near schools and, like abroad, speed­ing fines should be in­creased in these zones.

Of course, a new school, un­fa­mil­iar teacher, ex­am­i­na­tion class or old bul­ly can turn Sep­tem­ber in­to a sea­son of dread. Anx­i­ety may speak through stom­ach pain, headache, poor sleep, tears, ir­ri­tabil­i­ty or re­peat­ed re­quests to stay home.

Iden­ti­fy a trust­ed adult. Watch for with­draw­al, falling grades, dam­aged be­long­ings, un­ex­plained in­juries, ap­petite changes or a sud­den ha­tred of school. Bul­ly­ing, in­clud­ing on­line bul­ly­ing, is not char­ac­ter-build­ing. Threats of self-harm or sui­cide re­quire im­me­di­ate, se­ri­ous ac­tion.

Do not com­pare one child re­lent­less­ly with a sib­ling, cousin or class­mate. Why not praise prepa­ra­tion, per­sis­tence, hon­esty and im­prove­ment? A re­port card re­veals where help is need­ed and is cer­tain­ly not a ver­dict on a child’s fu­ture.

Teach­ers and ad­min­is­tra­tors car­ry part of the re­spon­si­bil­i­ty of healthy liv­ing for stu­dents. Some chil­dren de­lib­er­ate­ly with­hold urine or stool be­cause toi­lets are dirty, lack pri­va­cy or feel un­safe. This could lead to con­sti­pa­tion, pain and em­bar­rass­ing ac­ci­dents. Clean drink­ing wa­ter, func­tion­ing lava­to­ries, safe play, sen­si­ble heat pre­cau­tions, time for move­ment and an at­mos­phere where a child can ask for help are es­sen­tial in the new term.

Health and ed­u­ca­tion are in­ex­tri­ca­bly in­ter­twined. The goal is to send a child rest­ed, nour­ished, safe and hap­py in­to a learn­ing en­vi­ron­ment. In­deed, the most valu­able thing a child can car­ry back to school this year is the knowl­edge that we are al­ways pay­ing at­ten­tion to the hu­man be­ing hold­ing the pen­cil.