At 16, Colm found the return to school after the summer challenging. Getting back into an early morning routine, keeping up with homework and balancing school with everything else felt like a lot at first.
Rather than trying to tackle everything at once, Colm found a few simple ways to make the transition easier:
- Getting organised the night before – packing his schoolbag, preparing what he needed and checking what was coming up the next day.
- Breaking work into smaller tasks – instead of looking at a whole evening of homework, he focused on one task at a time.
- Using a simple routine – having set times for homework, breaks and getting ready for bed helped him get back into a rhythm.
- Taking proper breaks – stepping away for a few minutes helped him reset when he felt overwhelmed.
- Asking for help when he needed it – rather than struggling on his own, Colm learned that talking to a teacher, parent or friend could make things feel much more manageable.
It didn’t make every day easy, but these small changes helped Colm feel more in control and less overwhelmed. He realised that getting back into school life didn’t have to happen all at once — finding a few things that worked for him made the whole experience easier.
