[Coaching Pupils] Coaching Stops Year 11 Pupil Cracking Under Pressure (Exam Stress)

Coaching pupils in schools is vital.

Research shows that mental health problems amongst pupils is increasing at an alarming rate. The pressure to ‘get results’ is putting students under enormous stress.

Exam stress clearly affects a lot of children in the UK. Evidence from counselling services and school leaders shows that it’s a growing problem.

For example, Childline delivered 3,135 counselling sessions on exam stress last year – a rise of 11% over the past two years. One in five of these sessions took place in May – the month when pupils are facing upcoming exams. Pupils felt they were struggling with some of their subjects, excessive workloads and feeling unprepared for their exams.

It’s not just the older pupils who are suffering. SATs pressure is taking its toll on younger, more vulnerable pupils. Shockingly, There are reports of nine-year-old children who are talking about suicide!

83% of school leaders, teachers and support workers feel that mental health among pupils in England has deteriorated in the past two years. Statistics show rising levels of anxiety, self-harm and actual cases of suicide.

It’s heartbreaking.

So what’s the answer?

Effective coaching – using the Coaching in Schools system.

Coaching pupils (like Danielle) ensures schools provide better support for children’s social, emotional and mental health (SEMH) and wellbeing.

Watch this video to find out how the Coaching in Schools Model transformed this Year 11 student’s ability to cope with exam stress…

[Case Study Summary] 

Coaching helped Danielle go from being TERRIFIED of entering the exam hall (and feeling like she’d have a mental breakdown) to being able to CONFIDENTLY enter the exam room (and feeling like a weight’s been lifted off).

Her advice to Headteachers worldwide is:

“You need to learn how to do that because Ms Austin’s changed my life. That sounds so cliché again but honestly she has. And I feel like if more people had the training and the expertise to do that to other people then it would just be so fantastic because I’m just 1 person that she’s helped and there could be so many more people that feel the way that I feel now.”

Danielle also feels that coaching has improved her life in general, her mental health and wellbeing and her relationships with friends and family. She says: “It just makes you a better person.”