When you start back at school, there can be a lot to remember, like new classrooms, new teachers and just new ways of doing things. One of the best ways to manage this information is to create systems to help your brain. The less your brain has to think about, the more it can focus on learning.

One way you can help your brain is by creating routines. Routines help remove many small decisions your brain has to make, therefore, freeing up space in your brain. You can create routines around when you pack your bag, where you put it at school and home, where and when you study/do homework and how you manage your lunch (putting it in your bag and emptying it at the end of the day). Try to do the same thing every day.

Colour coding also helps to free up your brain. You might make everything to do with English red – timetable, books, files, notepad, files on a computer - so you don’t have to think, “What is that notepad for?” When you get home, you can then group things by colour. Take out all the red things and start your English homework (go on, you can do it).

A slightly boring but very useful way to help your brain is rehearsal. You put them in your long-term memory by practising your reading, times tables, spelling words, chemical names and symbols. This means your brain doesn’t have to think really hard about them anymore as they are 'saved'.  Try to commit to just 10 minutes each day. It will make a huge difference because when you are trying to learn new things, you have more space for them.

Have a great term everyone!

Dr Mandie Shean
College Psychologist