ROSWELL—Two Catholic schools took special steps to welcome kindergartners and help their parents feel at ease as well as school opened in August.

Queen of Angels School, Roswell, a kindergarten through eighth-grade school, let kindergarten parents walk their students to their classroom. Then the parents were invited to gather together in the Media Center for breakfast and coffee.

“We started the ‘Kiss and Cry’ breakfast a few years ago so our kindergarten parents could share this special time together and help each other through those first anxious moments,” said Molly Carlin, principal.

At Christ the King School, Atlanta, fifth- and sixth-grade students act as guardian angels for the incoming kindergarteners’ first days. The older students greet the young ones at the morning carpool line and play games with them until the bell rings, then escort them to their classrooms. The pairs meet during the summer so that they become familiar faces during those first days of school.

“It makes the transition so much easier,” said parent Liz Seymour. “It also really fosters a sense of family among our school.”