parents information evening managing stress & coping with exam pressure helen jacquet, head of...
Post on 22-Dec-2015
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Parents Information Evening
Managing stress &
Coping with exam pressure
Helen Jacquet, Head of House
& Stéphanie Lefort, Head of Training School
Julie Adcock, Learning Community Tutor
Big picture
Introduction: How does stress affect the brain’s functions?
1. Dealing with stress• How can you counteract it? (de-stress & brain breaks)
2. Preventing stress• “I can” • Change working environment to reduce stress• Create less stress in your child’s life (work life balance)
In conclusion
How does stress affect the brain’s functions?
Stress Cortisol Hippocampus is impaired
Inability to access short term memory.
How can you counteract it?
De-stress techniques• Concentration
meditation
• Positive visualisation
• Tips: regular breaks, exercise, brain breaks
Turning negative attitudes around
Negative
“Why do I have to do this? It’s boring!”
“I don’t know how to do this”
“I am never going to get my predicted grade”.
Positive
“How can I make the work more interesting?”
“Where can I get some help from?”
“Am I trying my best?”
Creating the optimum environmentChange the working environment to
reduce stress
– Light levels– Space– Tidy – Nutrition– Equipment– Recognise and work
with appropriate learning style
– Music, appropriately
Create less stress in your child’s life
Work life balance
• Exercise
• Job
• Hobbies / School activities, commitments
• Social life
In conclusion• The way your child revises could be very different to your
preferred way
• A personalised and varied approach to revision will be more efficient.
• A positive frame of mind (both when revising and during exams) for both you and your child is vital
• Work-life balance is a key aspect of managing stress and efficient revision
• Reinforce the personalised learning tips they will be taking away from the revision day.
• Encouraging your child to use de-stressing techniques can be useful.
Consider both your attitude to your child’s revision and that of your child. • Do they/you know how to de-stress?• Do they/you know how to approach their
revision in the correct frame of mind?• Do they/you have enough time to relax?
Do they/you recognise the value of physical exercise?
• Are they/you doing too much (job/ hobbies)?
Why as a parent do I need to know about managing stress?About youConfronted with anger, boys
who are already stressed, will become more stressed , girls will become emotional. Mara Mather, a cognitive psychologist at the University of Southern California
Adults response to exam and their child’s stress contributes to increasing or decreasing stress.
About your child
The Brain and Learning
• Reptilian: fight or flight• Limbic: emotions• Neo-Cortex: left and right hemispheres
and higher level thinking