1. Supporting wellbeing and mental health through the exam season.
Mrs Gregory

2. Stress is a unique experience for each individual.
There are 5 components of supporting your child through the exam period. They each address the varied aspects of stress.
Help your child understand their experience of stress
Help your child plan and maintain a revision and exam routine.
Sleep Hygiene
Diet
Effective Communication
Stress is a unique experience for each individual.
We can recommend some broad strategies that should help manage it.

3. Help Your Child Understand Stress
Teenagers have a limited understanding of their stress - this is largely due to them having limited life experience when compared to their parents. Their range of experience is less therefore it can be difficult to identify different types of stress. They may not understand what they’re experiencing or why they feel the way they do.
Teenagers struggle to rationalise their stressful experiences - Teenagers can catastrophize their stress (everything is going wrong!) or try to ignore what is happening (everything is fine, I’ll revise tomorrow!) We need to help them through their experience and help them balance their responses.
Promote Self-Compassion - Help them engage in self-care and make positive choices. This is context specific and unique for your child. This could be encouraging them to take breaks or alternatively creating a structure to support their revision which is enforced to help them better manage their time and the reality of their situation.

4. 2. Help your child plan and maintain a revision routine
Encourage attendance at after school enrichment classes - this will take some of the pressure off your child if they struggle to revise independently.
Plan a realistic revision timetable to help your child manage their time. A little revision and often is the best approach for success both in exams and with wellbeing. In keeping to the revision timetable your child will also feel instant feelings of success which encourages good habits and helps to establish routines.
Review question level analysis so that the revision that your child does is purposeful and in the areas that will have the most impact.
Encourage dialogue with your child’s class teacher - if there are progress or wellbeing concerns, share these with your child’s teacher/form tutor/pastoral support as they are able to plan intervention.

5. 3. Sleep Hygiene
‘Losing Sleep Over Something’ - Stress affects how we sleep. It can either stop us from getting to sleep or affect the quality of our sleep.This can create a negative cycle where our bodies release more stress hormones due to not sleeping properly. Ultimately this will affect concentration, mood and performance.
Promoting Sleep Hygiene - Teenagers struggle with sleep hygiene, more so in the exam period. Therefore, it is important to promote good sleep hygiene during the exam period.

6. 3. Sleep Hygiene
Sleep Hygiene begins before bed - Students sleep best when they wind down at least an hour before they actually go to bed. This includes them avoiding drinks with stimulants in (caffeine etc.), eating spicy or rich meals and doing activities that may cause their brain to be more active.
The Mobile Phone - Perhaps the biggest barrier to good sleep hygiene is the mobile phone. Teenagers may delay sleeping to stay on their phone. We recommend they do not take them to bed with them during the exam period and their use is limited in the hour before bed. Additionally, mobile phones activate the brain through them requiring concentration and they also project blue light which has been linked to increased brain activity.
A Bedtime Routine - While your child might have increased independence around their night time routine, a routine promotes the chances of falling to sleep and experiencing good quality sleep.
Light Exercise - During the day can help the quality of sleep as it reduces stress hormones in the system and promotes relaxation.

7. 4. Diet
Stress can dramatically affect diet - Due to the hormones involved in stress it can dramatically affect diet. It can cause teenagers to avoid eating for long periods of time which can lead to periods of binge eating. Alternatively, it can cause overeating to alleviate stress. All these behaviours negatively affect health and brain activity.
Maintaining Meal Times - It is important that your child is encouraged to eat proper meals at set times. This ensures that their body is adequately nourished and that they do not experience dips in energy levels. It also gives you an opportunity to speak to them and see how their revision is progressing and how they are feeling.
Helping them avoid poor dietary choices - Stress will often create a desire for ‘comfort’ foods that are high in calories and sugars. Students might rely on these types of foods to get them through stressful periods. This can create a negative cycle of highs and lows as their body processes these foods which effects concentration.

8. 5. Effective Communication
Regular Communication - During the exam period students can become withdrawn and communication with parents and staff can suffer. As a result, they can become overwhelmed and struggle to manage. We recommend being aware of this happening and positively encouraging your child to be open about their experiences.
Active Communication - many teenagers struggle to articulate their feelings or what they are experiencing. This can lead to them passively communicating without giving an accurate or realistic picture. We need to encourage them to attempt to understand their experiences and tell us what they are feeling and what they need so we can better support them.
Promoting Wellbeing and Resilience - The way we communicate with our young people and the language we use has a significant impact on them. We communicate positively and are ready to proactively challenge procrastination and low standards in a compassionate and robust manner.

9. 5. Effective Communication
Regular Communication - Where you have concerns, please speak to school or your GP prior to your child hitting a crisis point. There are services that we can refer to and we can also offer pastoral input as needed. If your child’s teachers are aware of any concerns they are also able to differentiate appropriately.
Active Communication - Encourage your child to identify what their needs and wants are. This will help you effectively prioritise what is causing them stress and also open communication and support channels.
Promoting Wellbeing and Resilience - Encourage your child to strike a balance between the time that they are working and when they need to rest/relax. Adopting the habits identified will promote more positive wellbeing and encourage your student to be resilient.