Examattack is a presentation I do in local schools for year 11 pupils (15-16 year-olds). At the heart of it is the phrase, ‘Give of your best, achieve your potential.’ I also tell stories: serious, humorous, exaggerated and true, to illustrate different points and then a handout is given to all pupils at the end. Just today I was in school chatting with some sixth formers and you can guess part of the conversation! They asked if I could do ‘Examattack’ for them. I said it’s the same as what I did for them last year!
So how can we best help and support our young people? We need to listen to them, hear their concerns and encourage them to talk. We can pray for them, build up support networks of prayer for them in our churches and encourage them to pray themselves. And what to pray? To give of their best and achieve their potential. We can also encourage young people and help them to create balance – they need to both revise and relax – and they won’t have many voices telling them to do the latter! In doing this we can put exams in perspective – they’re helpful and important but not the be all and end all. Young people’s value can never be solely determined by exam results – they are immeasurably more valuable than any letter on a slip of paper."
Wayne Dixon, Christian Connections in Schools
