That time of year

It’s a bit more than two weeks until the end of our term which means that here at The Towers we’re in full flurry of the end of year exams. (We’re back to school for the start of autumn term on Aug 19, so don’t feel too jealous!)

At first, our encouragement to ‘get started on some revision’ was met with mystified expressions and shrugs of the shoulders; mutterings were made to the tune of ‘no-one’s told me to start yet.’ We were forced to raise the notion of initiative.

Now, revision has been negotiated on, timetables drawn up and although it’s taken several weeks to establish, there is at last some semblance of discipline to the evenings.

Both children – on separate occasions - have appeared in front of me wearing wild, panicked expressions, and stuttering that an exam ‘no-one had told them about’ had appeared in their immediate future. Sometimes, they weren’t even quite certain which paper they didn’t know about. Even that hasn’t been a bad thing. I think learning how to cope with a dreaded question or hideous paper or, exam out of nowhere when you’re panicked, is an important lesson.

It’s not only about what they’re learning; I’ve learned over the years to have extra protractors, set squares, a spare compass, erasers, rulers… hidden away in a drawer for emergencies and we always get them.