With only days to go until the first set of summer exam results arrive it?s not always a case of what to say to anxious teenagers, sometimes it?s what not to say, says Toby Spence, Headmaster of Wrekin College in Shropshire?
During their A-level or GCSE studies some of the best advice we could have given would have been to work hard, do your best and remember consistent revision as you go. In the days before the actual exams it would have been to remember effective exam technique, to carefully read the questions and to keep an eye on the clock.
What is done is done, and no doubt many teenagers have already been going over everything (often in an ?online? social media based post-mortem)  and questioning what they did and didn?t do, often with a harsher lens, as the tension around results builds. However, any reference to that advice now is potentially unhelpful  – there will be a time for review and reflection but the eve of results day is not it.  Picture: Wrekin College
I would urge parents and teachers not to focus on what has been and more importantly try to divert their children and pupils from doing so as they await a-level results. Encourage them instead to do things which are good for their mental health such as regular physical activity, socialising with friends and getting plenty of sleep.
Fortunately the rhetoric around results day has become much more positive in recent years but even so it?s important to remember it is still a pivotal day for young peop...