10yrs old and going to middleschool

As suggested by others, get her into a group of older children this summer. Such activities may be in the place of worship, summer camp, or match her with a older relative of yours. Yes, she is afraid of the unknown. Many children are afraid of changing school and adults worry when they want to make a change in their life. Good luck!

Personally, I would believe her. I think her instincts are sound and should not be dismissed too quickly. My son is 10 and starting 6th grade. We decided to keep him in his mixed age classroom of 5-8th instead of sending him to a traditional, private middle school where some of the kids are almost 12 in 6th grade!. I am aware many parents keep their children back a year so that makes the average kid even older these days and two years in 6th grade is a big, big difference. Probably like your daughter, he is academically with the older kids, but maybe socially still drawn to the younger kids. At this age I would not push based upon grades alone but consider her overall happiness. I can't say enough good things about mixed age classrooms for children who are younger but academically ahead. They can work up a level or two, while maintaining age appropriate social networks.

See if the new school will be offering summer school. If she enjoys school she can take a class strictly social or extremely academic depending on her interests and she will be able to make friends ahead of time. She'll only be on campus a couple of hours a day and she'll get the lay of the campus before she has to attend in the fall.

Other schools have a new student orientation (some even call it a bootcamp) for a week before the school starts for every entering student (either new to the area or the entire incoming class). It allows the kids to learn the standards of the school before they start in September and it allows them to meet with each other. When she does attend in the fall, she'll already have a few friendly faces.

Go together to visit the school she will be attending. A lot of kids become frightened of entering middle school. You don't have to be a genius for this fear to pop up. If after visiting the school she still isn't comfortable with going at her age talk with the school administrator at her current school and find out if there is a program in your area where she can stay with the students closer to her age and outreach the work so she is still being challenged and progressing academically.