What do you need to know now your child is at "big school"?

(other pages available - pre-birth, birth to 5, 5 to 11, 16 to 19)

Transition to Secondary school - contact your local Extended Services co-ordinator to find out what happens about transition in your child's school

Education - find out about the National Curriculum (what your child will be learning)

Exams - why not look at these tips from dad.info or BBC Bitesize which gives great GCSE revision tips in manageable chunks. Why not also try these tips from GotATeenager about dealing with exam results.

Growing and Developing - get advice for your teen at Embarrassing Bodies

Sex and Relationships - ask your local school what your child is being taught and be prepared to tackle the subject yourself with these tips from Children Now or GotATeenager

Dealing with conflict - try this mini i-module from GotATeenager about communication.

Dealing with teenagers - GotATeenager is for anyone with a teenager in their life. Join for parent-to-parent support, informal advice, useful information and a community of other parents dealing with the same issues as you.

Risk taking behaviour - for advice on drugs, drug use and quitting, talk to Frank. For advice on talking to your teenager about alcohol visit Drink Aware. Tattoos - it is illegal to tattoo anyone under the age of 18 (even with parental consent). Piercing (ears and body) - the law is less clear around piercing, piercings can be done at any age with parental consent, but there is no minimum age at which a child can be pierced without parental consent. (source; Is It Legal? publication by Family and Parenting Institute).

Mythbusting sexual health (and preventing teenage parenthood) - see these fact or fiction sheets or direct your teenager to the sexual health information on youthzone.

If you think something is missing from this page, please get in touch using our contact form.

Disclaimer - whilst Nottinghamshire County Council is committed to the highest standards of quality of information, we make every effort to ensure that information is accurate, but the Council is not responsible for the content of any external websites.