Supporting children during key assessment periods is vital for their academic success and overall wellbeing. These moments can bring heightened pressure, and without the right guidance, students may feel overwhelmed or lose confidence in their abilities.
By creating a calm, encouraging environment, parents and carers can help children stay focused and manage stress effectively. Offering consistent support also reinforces the importance of effort, resilience, and a positive mindset.
When students know they are backed by the adults in their lives, they are more likely to approach assessments with confidence and perform to the best of their ability.
Follow our tips to ensure your child receives the support they need during the most demanding times of the school year.
Minimise Noise and Distractions
One of the simplest ways to support your child during assessment periods is by creating a quiet, focused study environment. Set aside a space where they can concentrate without interruptions from siblings, television, or household noise. Encouraging family members to respect this study time helps your child stay on task and absorb information more effectively. Even small changes, such as switching phones to silent or keeping pets out of the room, can make a big difference to their focus.
Talk About Time Management
Time management is a skill that benefits students far beyond school. Sit down with your child to create a realistic study schedule that prioritises the most pressing tasks and balances breaks with focused work sessions. Sharing how you manage your own responsibilities can be a powerful lesson in organisation. By guiding your child to plan ahead and tackle work in manageable steps, you help reduce last-minute stress and boost their confidence during assessments.
Ease Up on Chores
While it’s important for children to contribute to family life, assessment periods are a good time to ease back on regular chores. Temporarily reducing their responsibilities allows them to devote more energy to revision and assignments without feeling overburdened. This doesn’t mean all structure disappears; just that a little extra flexibility can relieve stress and improve productivity. Once assessments are over, household tasks can resume as usual, and your child will appreciate the support you provided during a demanding time.
Enjoy Quality Time Together
Encouraging downtime is just as important as study time. Plan simple, relaxing activities together, like going for a walk, having a picnic, or watching a favourite movie. Taking short breaks away from schoolwork helps your child recharge mentally and emotionally, so they return to study feeling refreshed. Spending this time together also reassures them that assessments, while important, are only one part of life, and that their wellbeing matters more than a single test or assignment.
Model Healthy Habits
Children learn as much from what they see as what they are told. Demonstrate a healthy balance between work, rest, and leisure in your own life, and encourage habits like regular exercise, nutritious meals, and sufficient sleep. If your child sees you managing stress calmly and maintaining positive routines, they are more likely to adopt these behaviours themselves. By modelling healthy habits, you’re not just supporting their performance during assessments, you’re equipping them with skills for lifelong wellbeing.
How Tutor Doctor Supports Students to Manage Assessments
At Tutor Doctor, we understand how stressful assessment periods can be for both students and families. Our personalised tutoring approach helps students manage their workload with confidence by building strong study skills, improving time management, and reinforcing subject knowledge.
We focus on reducing stress through structured support, breaking tasks into achievable steps, and providing encouragement every step of the way. With our help, students approach busy assessment periods feeling prepared, capable, and ready to achieve their best results.
Contact us for a free consultation.
