Great Expectations… or Great Pressure?

Claire Rushton-Plant

Picture the scene: a line of students outside the exam hall. The smell of stress hangs in the air, shared by students and staff alike. Nervous energy mixes with bravado, conversations about how much or how little revision has been done; all of it exaggerated. The pressure ripples across the school. Everyone feels it, whether they are sitting exams this year or not. Years of work come down to a set of results.

It starts young. SATs or 11+ in Year 6 set the tone for what follows in Year 11 and beyond.

Many students feel anxious, overwhelmed and afraid of failure. Some hide it behind a “can’t be bothered” attitude, masking what’s really going on. For too long, exam success has been treated as the end goal, whatever the cost. Long hours, mounting pressure and silent anxiety are brushed off as part of the process, as if stress is required for achievement. It isn’t. When students are pushed to exhaustion, performance doesn’t improve; it declines.

More concerning is the message they absorb that their worth is tied to results, and their wellbeing comes second. That’s not a trade-off we should accept. British culture has long prized being busy over being well; burnout over balance.

This piece takes a different stance. It focuses on what schools and educators can do, day-to- day, in real classrooms, to support students through exam season without compromising their mental health. No grand gestures, just practical strategies that make a meaningful difference.

Why Exam Season Hits Hard

We’ve bought into a narrative that needs challenging: that a child’s future hinges entirely on exam results. It’s repeated so often it feels true. But it isn’t.

A recent conversation with a Year 6 pupil about how much his SATs would “matter for his future” highlights how deeply this belief runs. The reality is simple: will those marks matter in ten years? Unlikely. Wanting children to do well is one thing. Loading that success with fear and long-term consequence is something else entirely, often fuelled by media narratives.

The pressure students face today is different. It’s heavier, louder and constant. Comparison no longer stops at the classroom door; it follows them home, sitting in their pocket. They’re not comparing themselves to one peer, but to hundreds of curated lives online.

Layer onto those internal pressures: perfectionism, fear of failure, not wanting to disappoint. Then add external forces: school cultures driven by results, league tables and performance metrics. The system doesn’t just value outcomes; it amplifies them.

When it becomes too much, the signs are there: disrupted sleep, reduced engagement, mood changes, loss of motivation. These aren’t minor issues; they are warning signs. Yet during exam season, they’re often dismissed as “part of it.” They shouldn’t be.

Staff feel the pressure too. When they are also exhausted or overwhelmed, it becomes harder to recognise those same signs in students.

The Role of Schools: More Than Just Results

If schools want different outcomes, they need to move beyond “just get through it” and replace it with something more intentional: “we’ll support you through this properly.”

This requires a whole-school approach. Consistent messaging matters: students shouldn’t hear reassurance in one classroom and pressure in another. Staff need to recognise signs of struggle, not just deliver content.

Yes, safe spaces matter, but not token gestures. This is about building a culture where emotional intelligence is actively taught, discussed and embedded into daily school life for both students and staff. When staff feel supported, they are better equipped to support others.

Waiting until a student reaches crisis point is too late. Schools that prioritise wellbeing alongside academic progress give students more than grades. They equip them with resilience tools they can use long after exams are over.

Practical Strategies to Support Student Wellbeing

Building emotional literacy is a strong starting point. Students need to understand that stress and anxiety during exams can be a normal response. Assemblies, form-time discussions and input from mental health professionals can help normalise these experiences. Peer support, especially from older students sharing their experiences, can make these conversations more relatable.

Revision culture also needs rethinking. Too often, it’s based on the flawed idea that more hours equal better results. This leads to exhaustion and diminishing returns. Especially for those schools running revision holiday sessions like their lives depend on it.

What matters is strategy. Students should be taught how to revise effectively: retrieval practice, spaced repetition and active recall. These approaches work with the brain, not against it.

Timetabling expectations must shift too. Effective revision plans aren’t crammed schedules with no breathing space. They are balanced, structured and include breaks. Rest isn’t a reward; it’s part of the process. When students plan with both focus and recovery in mind, they retain more, stay motivated and reduce the risk of burnout.

Rest and recovery are essential. Sleep is where memory consolidates and learning sticks. Yet the culture of late-night cramming persists, as if sacrificing sleep proves commitment. In reality, it damages performance and increases anxiety.

Schools can challenge this by being explicit about sleep hygiene: consistent routines, reducing screen time before bed and limiting stimulants. Encouraging boundaries around technology isn’t about control; it’s about creating the conditions for students to function at their best.

Schools should also provide genuinely calm spaces during exam periods. Not token quiet rooms, but accessible areas where students can pause, reset and breathe. Support shouldn’t sit with a single group of staff; any trained, trusted adult should be able to offer reassurance.

It’s equally important that staff can recognise less obvious signs of stress. Not every student will speak up. Some withdraw, others become perfectionistic, and many show physical symptoms like headaches or stomach aches. These signals are easy to miss if the focus is only on academic performance.

Finally, the language used around exams matters. Fear-based messaging does more harm than good. Students don’t need to believe everything rests on these results. They need perspective: exams matter, but they are not the full story.

Start Early, Not Late

Waiting until Year 11 to shift culture is too late. This work starts early.

It begins in primary school, in how SATs and 11+ are discussed. It continues in Year 7, during transition, when students learn how to manage change. It develops in Key Stage 3, through how assessments are handled and how revision, rest and recovery are taught.

It also starts with staff modelling healthy approaches to pressure. If wellbeing is treated as secondary, students will follow that lead.

With over one million under-18s in contact with NHS mental health services in recent years, the need for change is clear. Supporting students differently isn’t optional; it’s necessary. And that begins with equipping schools to truly support the young people in their care.