More children left stressed by exams
Growing number of children seek help
Yorkshire headteachers are not surprised that growing numbers of children are seeking Childline’s help over exam stress.
The helpline provided 3,135 counselling sessions for pupils in the last 12 months, which is a rise of 11 per cent over two years. Volunteers in Leeds delivered 137 online exam-related counselling sessions during this period.
HEADTEACHERS IN Yorkshire say they are not surprised that growing numbers of children are seeking help due to exam stress, after new figures were released by Childline today.
The helpline provided 3,135 counselling sessions for anxious pupils in the last 12 months – equivalent to almost nine a day – which is a rise of 11 per cent over the last two years. And the data shows that volunteers at the charity’s base in Leeds delivered 137 online exam-related counselling sessions during this period.
The findings come in the week that 11-year-olds across England take their Sats tests and as teenagers prepare for their GCSEs and A-levels.
Five Lanes Primary, in Leeds, ran a series of confidence-boosting sessions for Year 6 pupils ahead of this year’s Sats, which finished yesterday, in a bid to tackle anxiety, as well as a series of relaxation activities.
But headteacher Jo Fiddes said she was left heartbroken when pupils told her they had struggled to sleep the night before their exams, with some breaking down in tears in the middle of the tests.
She said: “I have had children burst into tears this week in the middle of an exam. It’s heartbreaking. It’s a horrible system and I’m not surprised at these figures.
“I think Sats are cruel for children and they are an unnecessary pressure. What has happened to having a childhood?
“Some of the questions are quite difficult and if there are two or three in a row that pupils can’t get, you can see their shoulders slump and heads go down and they feel like they have failed.
“We have had pupils who couldn’t get to sleep worrying about their maths test – at the age of 11. It’s ridiculous.”
Children aged 12 to 15 are the most likely to seek help over exam stress, but this year the biggest rise was among 16 to 18-yearolds, according to Childline.
Steven Rippin, assistant headteacher at Tapton School, in Sheffield, which was selected to run a pilot scheme as part of the city’s Healthy Minds programme, said: “Unfortunately the figures don’t surprise me. It’s down to a number of changes being made to the examination process. If you look at GCSEs for example they are moving towards longer exams, which are all sat at the end of the course.”
Tapton has taken a number of measures to combat the issue, including holding a presentation on exam stress for parents in partnership with the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service.
Mr Rippin said: “The reality is the exam system puts a lot of pressure on students. It’s not my making or my choice, but that’s the reality that every school up and down the country faces. We have to do the best we can to prepare students for that system and that process.”
I have had children burst into tears this week in the middle of an exam. Jo Fiddes, headteacher at Five Lanes Primary School, Leeds.