Keep calm and carry on playing: top tips ahead of the 2019 SATs
Reduce stress and anxiety by ensuring children feel comfortable and confident going into their SATs
It’s that time of year again. SATs are on the horizon and children will soon be sitting down to take their KS1 and KS2 maths tests.
In the build up to the National Tests, some children can become worried and anxious. A recent study revealed the anxiety that many young people feel towards maths, their sense of apprehension, frustration and even fear.
With this in mind, we wanted to share some top tips on helping to alleviate stress and anxiety towards maths, helping children to feel comfortable and confident sitting down at their test.
- Play maths games – by playing engaging and interesting maths games that children enjoy, you can help to overcome the first hurdle by putting maths into a fun context which they enjoy and look forward to!
- Encourage mistakes – being embarrassed about getting the answer wrong in front of their peers was cited as one cause of maths anxiety in the recent report. Reassure children & help them to see that mistakes are positive learning opportunities.
- Be aware of your own attitude towards maths – maths anxiety works in a vicious cycle where negative attitudes are passed down from parents, teachers and peers. Eliminate the ‘I can’t do maths’ phrase from your vocabulary and show children that everyone is capable of doing maths.
- Practise, practise, practise – reinforcing the basic maths principles is one of the best ways to improve a child’s confidence. Practising maths will help develop their fluency and recall, impacting on other areas of the maths curriculum they might be struggling with.
Playing Sumdog can be a useful tool to combat stress & anxiety. Children not only love to play the games (which puts them in a positive frame of mind!), but the learning engine provides questions which are targeted to the individual, giving them great practice ahead of the tests.