It’s “crunch time” at Sir John Gleed School with Year 11 students facing the end of their examination courses and now starting the build up to the examinations.
It is a high pressure time for the young people and also for their families and teachers at the school.
As Easter approaches the students are finishing their course content and also their last pieces of coursework.
Even though the amount of coursework is reducing many courses still contain a lot of it – especially BTEC and other vocational courses.
It is vital to get the very best possible mark in coursework so that students can walk into their exams confident that they are already starting on a high point.
At Sir John Gleed a lot of extra help is provided for Year 11 students to help them revise, to practise difficult topics and to study past examination papers.
Every night of the week there are extra classes and the biggest complaint of students is that there is just too much to fit in!
And the school won’t shut in the holidays.
Over the February half term there were key additional classes for Year 11 students and further study school are being planned for Easter and for the spring bank holiday.
Exams cause a huge amount of stress and most of us will have memories of sitting in an exam and being terrified!
At Sir John Gleed we want our students to do their very best so we teach them how to approach revision and how to make sure that they arrive for their exam in the best prepared state – right down to what to eat and drink before an exam.
Top tips are to be organised and disciplined when revising but don’t try to do too much!
Being 16 is also difficult and fun and young people deserve to enjoy it.
They need encouragement and also they need help sticking to their schedules.
They deserve treats and rewards but only if they are sticking to their plan.
Parents can help by making revision fun – testing their sons and daughters, playing revision games and generally showing an interest.
Most 16 year olds do welcome interest shown in them by adults even though they sometimes pretend that they don’t!
A lot of success in exams is down to confidence and confidence comes from having been well prepared.
If you are a young person revising for exams then just go for it!
Everyone in your family and friends and everyone at school wants you to succeed and are right behind you.
If you are a parent be relentlessly positive and encouraging and resist the urge to nag!
If you are worried about your son or daughter and how they are approaching their exams then get in touch with the school – they are there to help!
Finally – at Sir John Gleed we feel privileged to be working with the students in our current Year 11 and we think they are heading for some great exam results – we will be proud of them whatever the outcomes!
We wish you good luck over the coming weeks – work hard and be successful!
