Season of stress as exams loom

Exam season is now upon us, and Charity ChildLine says the pressures have led to a rapid growth in stress among children.

Nationwide the helpline reported a 200 per cent increase in the number of youngsters seeking counselling for exam related stress in 2013-14.

And over the same period the charity's West Midlands base was contacted 10,724 times by children who had concerns about school and education problems.

Not wanting to disappoint their parents, fear of failure and the general pressures linked to academic achievement were all major themes.

Peter Wanless, chief executive of the NSPCC, which runs the service, says the figures show how pressures to perform well are being felt by a rising number of young people. And his view is mirrored by many headteachers.

Different schools have different ideas about how best to cope, but it's generally agreed that children are under more pressure to succeed than they were a generation ago.

• The exam is actually going to happen. The date is creeping ever closer, so blocking it out of your mind will only make things worse. Face up to the reality of the situation and knuckle down to some revision.

• Prepare in a way that suits you. Some people like to start their revision at the crack of dawn, others are night owls. Don’t organise your time based on what other people seem to be doing or what appears to be the norm.

• Don’t let the outlandish claims of others scare you. Everyone’s got that one friend who claims to revise for 20 hours a day. They probably don’t, so letting them scare you into feeling inadequate is a pointless exercise.

• Ignore anyone who utters the words: “Actually, I never revise.” On the other hand there’s the doom and gloom merchants who say they ‘can’t be bothered’ to revise. Most of them are probably liars as well, so don’t follow their false lead.

• Don’t try and revise all day, every day. Revision is obviously important in the run-up to exams, but spending every waking hour with your head in a book can be counter-productive. Take a break every once in a while.

• Change the scenery. Sitting at the same desk in the library or surrounded by thousands of sheets of paper on your bedroom floor soon gets boring. Moving to a different environment for a few hours can make you feel refreshed and ready to revise again.

• You’ve got to have a plan. Organise your revision. Set yourself targets every day and stick to them. At the end of each day you’ll get a nice little boost knowing that you have achieved what you set out to do.

• Get out and about. It might be to do half an hour at the gym or simply a walk to stock up on revision snacks, but getting some fresh air really will help. It’s important to clear your head before it becomes a jumble of knowledge, and going on a walk is a cheap and quick way to do so.

• Find the thing that helps you relax. Listening to music, a turn on the skateboard or playing sport. Pick something that puts you in a relaxed mood and fit it in as part of your schedule.

• Don’t waste time worrying after the exams are over. Post-exam chats with pals can be as stressful as actually sitting the damned things. Listening to others talking about what they wrote and making you worry is not helpful in the slightest, neither is convincing yourself that you’ve failed. You’ve done your best and nothing can be changed now so getting yourself stressed out is just a waste of time.

Andrew Burns, headteacher at Ormiston Forge Academy in Cradley Heath, says a big factor is the DfE's decision to change the rules on evaluating school performance, so that only a pupil's first attempt at an exam is recorded in school league tables.

"It has led to a chicken and egg situation," says Mr Burns. "The schools want to do well and for that to happen the pupils have to get it right first time.

"This leads to a build up of pressure on everyone at the school, particularly around exam times. Some of our students don't have the same level of support at home that others do, so for them this can be a particularly difficult process."

Mr Burns says his school has a strong pastoral team who work with students suffering from exam related stress, while the school also lays on extra revision classes during school holidays.

"The take-up has been incredible," he adds. "We had 40 kids coming in for a maths revision class during a holiday. I'm fielding emails late into the night from students looking for guidance on a particular question.

"This just wouldn't have happened a few years ago. Society has become so competitive. The kids don't want to have to come back and repeat."

The extra pressure has led to the professional counselling services that assist schools – including GPs – becoming stretched to the limit, with waiting times for appointments getting longer day by day. And worrying about exams can have catastrophic effects. It can impact on young people's ability to sleep, trigger anxiety attacks, depression and tearfulness, and bring on eating disorders.

In some cases it also led to self-harm and suicidal feelings.

Wolverhampton-based counsellor Carole Palmer says her work with youngsters in schools across the Black Country has enabled her to see the growth in children's stress first hand.

"There is more pressure on young people to succeed and this can be quite stressful," she says.

"But there are other factors that also contribute. Access to the internet has opened up a whole new world to children. It's not all positive.

"The rise in cyber bullying is something that is very concerning. But I also think that for a lot of children the coping mechanisms are not there. Schools focus on the core curriculum at the expense of more creative subjects, which can increase stress and anxiety. Young people have a lot more on their plate in general. The extra pressure to succeed in the classroom simply adds to that."

Some schools have incorporated the latest in therapeutic trends in a bid to minimise stress and anxiety.

At Woodthorne Primary School in Tettenhall, pupils prepared for their SATs with sessions in positive thinking, deep relaxation, breathing and mindfulness techniques.

Instructor Naomi Waters, founder of Wolverhampton company Mata Yoga who runs the sessions, said students find them beneficial and headteachers were keen to reduce the possibility of stress wherever possible.

"Headteachers are very conscious of wanting to minimise any pressure on the students," she says.

"Their real, principal focus is anything they can do to reduce the pressure the children feel."

And it has had a positive effect, according to headteacher Justin Crilly.

He says: "The children that I have spoken to have been enjoying it very much. They want to do their best so some of the children will get anxious about it so anything to try and alleviate any anxiety and get them focused on relaxing is going to be beneficial."

Parental pressure is another major issue faced by exam-panicked youngsters. One teenage boy who spoke to ChildLine said: "I am about to take my GCSEs and I am under so much pressure as my parents are expecting me to do really well.

"I am going to revision classes and trying really hard but I feel like it is not good enough for them. My parents don't allow me to do anything else apart from revision and if I try and talk to them it always ends in an argument."

It's certainly a difficult balancing act for parents.

"On one hand you don't want to crank up the pressure too much and risk stressing them out," says David Jenkins, 41, from Dudley, the father of two teenagers.

"But if you're too laid back the worry is that they might not put the work in. When it comes down to it you just have to keep an eye on things and trust they will do enough."

For ChildLine's free confidential helpline, call 0800 1111 or visit childline.org.uk. The website has a special 'Beat exam stress' section.