Surrey Homes | SH43 | May 2018 | Restoration & New Build supplement inside

FREWEN
Prep
School
The Dyslexia School
Since 1910
Senior
• •
School
A unique Day & Boarding school for girls and boys
aged 7-19 with Dyslexia, Dyspraxia & Dyscalculia
Come and see how Frewen College
can help your child at our
OPEN MORNING
on Saturday 12 May
10.00 - 12 noon
“I feel like Frewen has given
me back my child.”
Year 6 parent
To register, please call Annabel on:
01797 252494 or email:office@frewencollege.co.uk
Frewen College, Northiam, East Sussex, TN31 6NL
www.frewencollege.co.uk
COLLEGE
Sixth
Form
Keep calm and
carry on (revising)
It’s exam time, not much fun for Year 11s and 13s – or their
parents – so Hilary Wilce offers some expert advice
Exams are coming up fast, and
there will be many households
where tensions are running high
about revision. But psychologists have
discovered that many traditional revision
techniques don’t work at all. High on
that list is highlighting.
Highlighting, as we all know, is fun.
But our brains don’t like highlighting
one bit. They don’t want to remember
facts and figures in isolation Why would they? What’s the use of that?
Neither do they like summaries. Making a summary of something can
feel very effective in the moment, but afterwards, apparently, our brains
just go ‘meh’ and forget it. On the other hand, our brains absolutely love
trying to fully understand something and then teaching it to someone
else. If our brains do that, they have got it for ever. What do parents need
to do to support their children when exams are looming?
*Encourage them to start early and take gaps Learning something
for an hour over six days has been shown to be much more effective
than cramming for six hours just before the big day. In fact, according
to Professor John Dunlosky of Kent State University, in Ohio, this is the
most important thing any student can do.
*Tell them that cramming can also be useful But only, apparently, if
it comes after earlier ‘distributed’ revision (see above).
*Encourage them to test themselves This really helps them focus and
learn, and shows them how well they’re doing, and where they need to
put in more work.
*Make them turn their music off Students who revise without music
have been shown to do significantly better than those who keep it on.
*Remove their phone Yes, remove it. Psychologists in the US have
discovered that it’s not enough to keep it turned off. Even just a glimpse
of a phone can cause a major distraction and loss of focus.
*Make sure they get enough sleep We’re now making huge
discoveries about the power of sleep to ease stress, absorb knowledge, and
boost biological processes. Shakespeare, of course, knew this more than
four hundred years ago, when he named it “chief nourisher in life’s feast”.
*Encourage healthy breaks, with exercise and fresh air, and also
drinking plenty of water Brains need to be looked after, just like skin
and muscles and hearts and lungs.
If you do all these things your child will probably hate you (especially
the phone thing). But you’ll just have to deal with it. You’re the adult
here. Try using good comparisons to encourage revision. Would they
play an important game of rugby, or embark on a dance performance
without practising a lot beforehand? Personally, I’m no fan of offering
bribes for results. I believe that the most effective revision comes when
students are doing it for themselves. But children and families vary, and
it might work for you. What all students respond to, though, is lots of
tender, loving care. Tell your child you understand the pressures of exam
revision. Let them off any regular chores. Make sure they have a friendly,
warm environment to revise in. Offer good food and drink, and hold
out the prospect of something to look forward to when it’s all – at last –
behind them.
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