Sitting exams is an inevitable fact of school life. The two key tests at Primary level are the Year 2 and Year 6 SATs.
As a parent, it’s natural to worry about how your child might do. However, it’s important not to be over-anxious about them.
Primary school can be a tough environment for our children anyway. Children constantly compare themselves to their peers, and get worried if they don’t feel as good as everyone else.
You’ll know if your child comes home saying they’ve been moved up or down a class/table, how much they care about doing well. The excitement and disappointment is felt in equal measure.
In the face of school targets and expectations, we think it can help to put them into perspective. Here’s some advice from our Manchester and Cheshire tutor team on how to do just that.
Surviving SATs with a smile
- Encourage your child to see SATs as just one part of their whole education. The ability to think for themselves, to be kind, to help others, to work as a team, to care about others are just as valuable…
- Read for pleasure with your child. If you as a parent can make time to read, it’s surprising how valuable children will see it. Why not read with your child too? Publications like The Week Junior are a great opportunity to read with your child. Get them to skim and scan for information – a great tip for negotiating the Reading test.
- Tests are like solving mysteries. Get your child to imagine they are a detective cracking a case. For English tests, they are always looking for clues. (quotes and information) For Maths, they have to crack codes and numbers to solve challenges.
- Have fun with Maths. Search for multiplication tables games online, or you could use a simple pack of cards to practise addition, subtraction, division or multiplication. Also, get in the kitchen: it’s surprising how many Maths calculations you do when baking!
Our advice is to try and help your child keep these exams in perspective by not making them the be all and end all.
Of course, some children need that extra push and support when feeling under pressure. It’s something our children have to replicate at GCSE level too, so it makes sense to support them early on with a healthy mindset.
If you want to chat about how a course of tuition lessons could help your child do just that, do get in touch with our tutor team today.
Remember though: try to stay calm yourself. Your children will make their way in the world in spite of exams and tests…
Tags: English Reading exams, How to encourage your child to read, maths, Sats exams