Relaxation and revision: our young people need both. If a pupil arrives home from school and revises non-stop from 4pm until 10pm they will get tired, hungry, frustrated and will not retain much. Balance is needed. That is why the BBC calls their revision website ‘Bitesize’ because revision is best done in bite-size chunks. At school, pupils don’t start at 8.30am with physics and then stay in the same classroom until 3.30pm with no breaks! If young people are into music, sport and other hobbies it is good to continue doing some of these during the exam period. It’s good to relax. We are not designed just to work, work, work.
Listen, pray, encourage, be flexible: most importantly, put exams in perspective. Exams are useful but they are not the most important thing in the world. Some young people who would usually attend youth groups may feel that they need a break from them during exams. It does not necessarily mean that they are not interested, they may just need more time to revise. We need to be flexible. Some of your young people may come to part of an evening or some may want to incorporate time in the session for revision. Everyone needs balance. Try and be as accommodating as you can.
Parents, pupils, professionals and partnership: it is crucial to talk. We must let our young people know that they are not on their own and that people do really care about them. For the last 25 years, I have presented ‘Examattack’ in local schools. I share with young people a Venn diagram where pupils are in the middle because it is all about them. However, if they are doing their part but do not have any support at home, this is a problem. If teachers (professionals) are doing their part but for whatever reason young people aren’t pulling their weight, that is also a problem. This is why partnership is important. We must all work together to help our young people.
Jeremiah 29:11 was a very helpful verse that was shared with me when I was 18 and didn’t get the exam results I needed or hoped for. It was a low and difficult point in my life. Having people who listened to me helped, as did this verse and, looking back now, everything is OK. We can really help our young people at this time. I trust as the exam season continues we can be a support and a help to those we have contact with and be both prayerful and supportive at this time.
Visit examattack.org.uk to access Wayne’s work with schools around exams.
Wayne Dixon is a schools’ worker in Slough, Windsor and Maidenhead. He’s been involved in local schools for 30 years.
