Exam season and well-being – Supporting schools, students and parents  

Exam time: A season like no other  

The summer term is a big time for students.  

Not much in life boils down to one moment or just a couple of hours of work alone at a desk.  

In many ways, it’s odd that exams still do. 

Students getting ready for year six SATs, GCSEs, A-levels and higher education exams will be hoping to show their best during this short window at the end of weeks, months and years of preparation. After they put their pens down, they’ll have a wait to hear how it all went and what their results reveal about their efforts and their options for the next part. 

Reading this reality shows how the stakes can easily feel very, very high. 

It’s right to invest, but grades don’t decide your self-worth  

Do something for me… nip back up to the last subheading and read it again. But this time, replace the word “Students” with “Teachers,” and then do the same with “Parents.” 

Did you do it? 

The same applies to each group. All are invested similarly, and the stakes can feel high for everyone.  

And it’s right to invest. We invest in things that matter to us. And things that matter to us rightly become part of who we are and our story. 

Doing our best job, achieving our potential, and creating opportunities are important. We want our young people to aim for excellence. 

But this can so easily become doing the best, not letting anyone down, or not missing out on the grades for the next step. A subtle but powerful shift. 

Rather than seeing the conclusion of a school phase as a gateway to opportunity, the experience can be seen as a barrier that, if you fail to clear it, you’re going to miss out or struggle in the future. 

When self-worth is tied up too closely with the end result, you’re building on shaky ground. Exams highlight this point uniquely. Students can either experience “failure,” and must work out the practicalities of the next steps with a backdrop of not feeling good enough. Or they achieve success and simply move on to the next challenge to continue proving themselves and their worth. 

Removing fear, building resilience - a coaching perspective on exams 

In my coaching work with schools and leaders in education, I use the Resilient Leaders Element (RLE), along with Functional Fluency and Transactional Analysis models.  

As a qualified practitioner, I love how useful these principles are concerning building resilience and a healthy approach to challenge. They’re especially relevant during exam season. Challenges are inevitable, so an empowering coaching culture in your school can prepare your team and your students to develop resilience and remove the fear of failure as a motivating force… both during exams and in preparation for the future. 

You can read more about this approach in my recent blog post about my work with RLE. 

Supporting early career teachers or inexperienced staff 

Take a close look around your departments.  

Are any of your team skipping lunch or appearing distant from conversations?  

Remember, SATs, GCSE or A-level exams will also mark the end of a significant professional investment for your teachers. For new teachers, the burden of their class “succeeding or failing” can easily creep into their own thinking. This is not fun, as I’m sure you can relate! Do reach out and be extra vigilant for team members who may be struggling.  

Have you factored this into your mentoring, or could you plan extra check-ins? Reassuring teachers is always a fruitful exercise during exam time. And even if a culture of development through coaching is established in your school, this might be a time when staff may benefit from clearer direction and mentoring.  

Using exam expertise in your team – “In it together” 

Practical support is always powerful. Do you or any of your team mark exam papers?  

If so, make sure you’re sharing this knowledge. For less experienced teachers, knowing what will be useful for students to work on is valuable. Of course, it will help your students during their last few weeks with you, but it will also allow teachers to balance their planning when they’ll naturally be spinning lots of plates. 

This type of extra support is defined and time-limited, so it might be the perfect opportunity for someone in your team to step up and lead the “in it together” culture setting over the next month or so. 

It’s also important to remind teachers that they are part of the wider school support network, which includes the Senior Leadership Team, pastoral teams and support staff.  

Senior Leadership Teams can support powerfully by being present and actively reiterating the “in it together” message. For the students, building this sense of calm is the best way to secure their best performance; their class teachers will reflect this when they feel supported and part of the bigger picture themselves. 

Exam season support – keep it practical 

Your students will know who they can find for support when they’re in school. If they’ve taken your help for granted, it probably means you’ve done a good job. 

But when study leave begins for GCSE or A-level students, they can be surprised when the safety net feels further away. Make sure students know they can contact you as normal in school. 

You can also signpost students and parents to the following sources of support: 

For support with exam stress and anxiety Mind and Young Minds offer advice and guidance.

A start point for revision materials there is BBC Bitesize and guidance on exam preparation and procedure can be found here from Ofqual however, it is important to reiterate to check the specifications and exam routine guidance from your own teachers.