CARENew Kid in Town - How to Make Friends and Settle In At a New School

If you are about to move schools YOMM has got you covered with the best tips for adjusting and settling in!

Moving schools can be a very daunting thing. You leave behind your friends that you once saw every single day, your teachers who you may or may not have had a good relationship with, and the familiar layout of your old school. You’re suddenly in a new place, with new people, new places and so much more. It’s a scary experience, one that some of us here at YOMM have been through multiple times, but there’s plenty of ways to make sure you transition into this new environment with ease and enjoyment.

Here are our top tips to make settling in at a new school much easier:

Be Proactive

While your new school will often encourage the current students to reach out and interact with you, plenty of kids won’t want to leave their friend group to come hang out with you straight away. Don’t take this personally, they’re not avoiding you because of you, they’re just set in their ways and aren’t all that willing to change.

Don’t expect people to come up to you. Approach people, introduce yourself, be confident and you’ll find people who will happily take you in. Once you meet a few people, they start introducing you to others, and eventually, you learn the names of nearly everyone in your year.

This comes in very handy for class time. Chances are you’ll be very unfamiliar with the layout of your new school, so having someone there to guide you around is a blessing.

Being proactive doesn’t just apply to making new friends either. In class, put your hand up, ask questions, answer questions, contribute to the conversation. Don’t be afraid to be a part of the class. This allows not just the students in your class to get to know you, but the teachers as well.

Behave Yourself

You’ve just arrived at your new school, and first impressions can be very important with teachers. As important as it is to contribute to the class, don’t be the kid in the back corner chatting to his new found mates the whole time.

If this is the first thing they notice you doing, chances are, teachers will start to make up their mind about you pretty quickly. As unlikely as it may seem, your teachers exist to help you. The older you get, the more this becomes visible.

Trust me when I say, in Year 11 and 12, teachers become not just educators, but friends. They have your back when you need it, they know how to help you when you need it, because they’ve been through the whole situation many, many more times than you have. So make sure you get on their good sides as early as you can.

Don’t make a bad name for yourself as soon as you arrive at a new school, because it may be a hard reputation to shake.

Get Involved

Chances are, your new school will have a ton of co-curricular activities to get involved in. This could be a football team, a chess club, debating team, anything. Find something you’re interested in and get involved, you’ll meet like-minded people and make more and more friends.

Find People Like You

It’s almost guaranteed that you won’t be alone in terms of being the ‘new kid.’ Seek out these other kids and make friends with them. They’ll be in the same situation and they’ll be so grateful to find other people looking for friends. Use the fact that you’re both new as a conversation starter. Chat about where they used to go to school, why they left, why they chose this school.

Be Yourself

This one might seem a bit cliche, but it’s very important anyway. If you change who you are to try and fit in, you’ll attract people who might not actually have all that much common with you. You’ll find yourself wishing you’d done things a bit differently, because you might not enjoy their company as much as you could.

If you don’t change yourself, however, you’ll attract people who are like you. You’ll build lasting friendships and make amazing memories, and they’ll stay with you after you graduate and enter the great, big world beyond school.

Have you moved schools before? Got any other tips that helped you? Let us know in the comments below!