Stock up with our Shop Small Sale! Shop the sale
The Starting School Book by Sarah Ockwell-Smith
  Send as gift   Add to Wish List

Almost ready!

In order to save audiobooks to your Wish List you must be signed in to your account.

      Log in       Create account
Collage of audiobooks

Shop Small Sale

Shop our limited-time sale on bestselling audiobooks. Donโ€™t miss outโ€”purchases support local bookstores.

Shop the sale
Phone showing make the switch message

Limited-time offer

Get two free audiobooks!

Nowโ€™s a great time to shop indie. When you start a new one credit per month membership supporting local bookstores with promo code SWITCH, weโ€™ll give you two bonus audiobook credits at sign-up.

Sign up today

The Starting School Book

How to choose, prepare for and settle your child at school

$26.24

Get for $14.99 with membership
Narrator Katy Sobey

This audiobook uses AI narration.

Weโ€™re taking steps to make sure AI narration is transparent.

Learn more
Length 5 hours 50 minutes
Language English
  Send as gift   Add to Wish List

Almost ready!

In order to save audiobooks to your Wish List you must be signed in to your account.

      Log in       Create account

An indispensable guide for parents whose children are about to start, or have recently started school.


Starting school is a huge important milestone for children and their parents. The best school years happen when everyone involved feels happy and engaged with the whole experience, and yet, with so much information to digest and so little guidance available, the process can be incredibly confusing.


The Starting School Book is a reassuring and practical guide for parents of school-age children. Sarah Ockwell-Smith provides clear and helpful advice for each stage of the process, whether your are just beginning to think about your child's education, applying for a school place, preparing your child for starting at the school you have chosen, or your child has already started school and you would like to help smooth the transition.


Specific guidance includes:
* Starting school ages, policies and procedures
* How to decide the best starting age for a summer-born child
* What to look for when choosing a school and what questions to ask when you visit
* How to prepare your child emotionally and practically for starting school
* Common concerns including settling in, separation anxiety, friendship issues, school refusal and reconnecting with your child at the end of the day
* Understanding your own feelings about the transition and your role in the wider school community


With case studies and advice from parents who have been through it, and enlightening tips from teachers, The Starting School Book provides all the information you need to help your child have a positive, calm and happy school experience.

Sarah Ockwell-Smith is the mother of four children. She has a BSc in Psychology and worked for several years in Pharmaceutical Research and Development. Following the birth of her first child, Sarah re-trained as a Paediatric Homeopath, Antenatal Teacher and Birth and Postnatal Doula. She has also undertaken training in Baby Massage, Hypnotherapy and Psychotherapy. Sarah specialises in gentle parenting methods and is co-founder of the GentleParenting website (www.gentleparenting.co.uk). Sarah writes a parenting blog (www.sarahockwell-smith.com) which is read by 3 million parents per year, and is the author of BabyCalm, ToddlerCalm, The Gentle Sleep Book, The Gentle Parenting Book, The Gentle Discipline Book, The Gentle Potty Training Book, The Gentle Eating Book, The Second Baby Book, The Starting School Book Between: A guide for parents of eight to thirteen-year-olds, How to Be a Calm Parent and Beginnings. She frequently writes for magazines and newspapers, and is often called upon as a parenting expert for national television and radio.

Katy Sobey Biography
Katy is from Bristol and trained at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama.
Theatre includes: Orpheus & Eurydice (Insane Root, Suspension Bridge Vaults), Rocky: A Horror
Show (The Wardrobe Theatre), The Woodlanders (Hammerpuzzle/Cheltenham Everyman), Othello
(Stafford Gatehouse), Here Be Monsters (UK Tour), Hot Air (Tobacco Factory Theatre/Myrtle
Theatre Co.), King John (Hammerpuzzle/The Egg), A Midsummer Night's Dream (UK Tour), Flood
(Bike Shed Theatre), Sleeping Beauty and Aladdin (Little Wolf/Loughborough Town Hall), Early
Doors (Edinburgh Festival) and The Taming of the Shrew (Sam Wanamaker Festival, The Globe).
Katy has appeared in several radio plays for BBC Radio 4, including Tess In Winter, The All-Clear,
The Shining Heart and Writing the Century: The Dock. She has also featured in multiple episodes
of Poetry Please with Roger McGough.
On television, Katy has appeared on BBC 1's daytime drama, The Indian Doctor.
Katy has recorded numerous audiobooks and is a featured artist on Audible UK's Narrator's
Greatest Hits. She is the voice of the popular young adult series, Geek Girl.

Collage of audiobooks

Shop Small Sale

Shop our limited-time sale on bestselling audiobooks. Donโ€™t miss outโ€”purchases support local bookstores.

Shop the sale
Phone showing make the switch message

Limited-time offer

Get two free audiobooks!

Nowโ€™s a great time to shop indie. When you start a new one credit per month membership supporting local bookstores with promo code SWITCH, weโ€™ll give you two bonus audiobook credits at sign-up.

Sign up today
Stock up with our Shop Small Sale! Shop the sale