Almost 40 percent fear their child catching covid-19 (Image: Getty)
A further two in five are worried about their youngster adjusting to their daily routine again after almost six months away from school. While 19 percent think they will struggle with motivation, and a third are expecting their child to be exhausted upon their return to education in September.
Worryingly, more than one in 10 parents fear that it could take up to six weeks for their child to fully settle back into school – half an entire term.
The research, which was commissioned by Collins, also found 31 percent of parents feel apprehensive and nervous about their child going back to school.
But despite their fears, a quarter also feel positive about September and 22 percent are excited to see children return to education.
Two thirds of parents feel optimistic about their child seeing their friends and 60 percent like the fact they will once again have structured lessons during the day.
Lee Newman, education publisher at Collins, said: “This September will see a return to school like no other, and parents are understandably anxious about how their children will cope during the transition – it’s uncharted territory for everyone.
“What this year has underlined is what a societal cornerstone schools are and how dedicated teachers are to the education and care of their pupils, and I think parents’ fears will be allayed quite quickly once term is underway.
“Learning resources such as practice workbooks and revision guides have a great role to play as children get back up to speed.
“Parents can use them to model positive attitudes toward learning, they can be used
informally to recap prior learning; and they provide a great confidence boost as students’ progress through the materials.”
Half of parents think their children’s social skills will have been affected after months away from the playground and classroom.
Other top worries around the return to school include the risk of their child catching COVID-19 (38 percent), finding a five-day week difficult (27 percent) and struggling academically (33 percent).
But while 23 percent worry their youngster feels nervous about going back to school, 35 percent think they are also excited.
Playing games during break time (26 per cent), seeing their favourite teachers (22 per cent) and learning their preferred subjects (27 per cent) are things parents believe children are most looking forward to.
Seven in 10 also think they are excited to see their friends again.
In order to help children settle back in, 38 per cent of mums and dads said less homework to start with will help, while 28 per cent believe reduced hours will also have a positive effect.
A further 42 percent think a recap of last term’s work will be useful.
But almost two thirds believe their youngster will struggle with the early starts, as they typically got out of bed at 8.30am during lockdown and will now have to set their alarms for 7am.
Of those polled via OnePoll, 62 percent admitted they struggled to encourage their child to do school work from home.
As a result, the subjects primary school children are expected to struggle with most include maths (24 percent), writing (18 percent) and grammar (11 percent).
But they are likely to look forward to PE (15 percent), reading (13 percent) and science (13 percent).
Parents of secondary school pupils think they will struggle most in September with the core subjects of maths (26 percent) and English (14 percent).
While computer science (10 percent), PE (13 percent) and art (9 percent) are expected to be the topics they are most excited to get back too.
Dr Kathy Weston, one of the leading experts on parental engagement in children’s lives and learning said: “It is normal to feel a little bit anxious about the start of the school term, and this year it might feel particularly acute.
“However, it’s important that parents model the approach that we wish to see.
“By staying positive, focusing on the things we can control and expressing excitement about your child’s step up into a new school year, we give them the best chance of a
good start in September”.
