Kat Old Tutoring

✨ A message to parents and carers during exam season… ✨

At Go Fish Education, we know exam season can bring pressure, worry and big emotions – for young people and the adults supporting them.

If your child is revising, sitting exams, or feeling overwhelmed right now, here are a few gentle reminders:

💙 Connection before correction – reassurance goes much further than pressure. Your child needs to know they are supported, whatever happens.

🍎 Look after the basics – sleep, food, hydration and movement matter more than we sometimes realise. A rested brain works better.

📚 Breaks are productive – stepping away to reset can improve focus and reduce stress.

🗣️ Listen without judgement – sometimes young people don’t need solutions, they just need someone to hear them.

🌱 Praise effort, not just outcomes – resilience, perseverance and showing up deserve recognition too.

⚠️ Remember, stress can look different in every child: tears, frustration, withdrawal, irritability, avoidance or loss of confidence can all be signs they’re finding things hard.

And perhaps the most important reminder of all:

✨ Exams are something young people do – they are not who they are. A grade will never measure kindness, creativity, determination or potential. ✨

To every parent and carer supporting from the sidelines, making snacks, offering lifts, calming worries and cheering them on… we see you too. 💙

— The Go Fish Education Team 🐠

Good luck to all the Year 6s starting their SATs today! Remember to stay calm, focus and just try your best. 🍀

Student win of the week! This Year 6 student has passed all of his mock SATs in Maths, Reading and SPAG. He’s worked so hard since September to improve his scores - what a confidence boost before the tests in May!

Student win of the week! It’s great to see that the confidence and ability that is built up in tutoring sessions is reflected in marks at school. What’s even lovelier is seeing students be proud of themselves and have a better relationship with maths!

📝 10 weeks until Year 6 SATs 📝
This year SATs week starts on Monday 11th May, which means there’s just 10 weeks until the tests. What can you be doing at home to support your children in the build up?

📚 Read read read! Read with your children as much as possible, choosing good quality texts that will expose them to advanced vocabulary. Try to choose a mix of different story genres, non-fiction and poetry as they may get any of these in the reading paper. Chat to them about the books and ask questions - good reading comprehension will help them in the reading paper but also maths reasoning tests!

🔢 Practice basic maths facts like times tables and addition facts. Flashcards, online games, or simply asking a couple of questions in the car each day keeps these maths facts fresh in your child’s memory. The more fluent they are in basic maths, the less hard their brain will have to work in the test and that frees up brain power for the trickier stuff!

✏️ Learn new spellings. Most schools send home weekly spellings for homework, but you could also take a look at the Year 5 & 6 Spelling List (easily googled if your school hasn’t provided one) and maybe pick 1-2 spellings a week to learn. This will support them in the SPAG paper and also their writing assessments.

⛅️ Reduce anxiety. Kids seem to be becoming more and more anxious around SATs and it has a big impact on their mental health. Whilst it’s great to prepare for the tests, remind them that there are no “consequences” of not getting a certain mark in the SATs and so we only want them to try their best. See them as a first practice of formal test taking in preparation for their secondary school exams. If your child gets particularly stressed, try exploring some mindfulness techniques that they could use during the tests to calm themselves down.

Questions or worries about the Year 6 SATs? Feel free to comment or send me a DM for a chat! ☺️

Student win of the week! J passed his Functional Skills Reading Level 2 exam 👏 Huge congratulations 🥳

Student win of the week! Improved test scores are always great, but seeing children feel proud and confident with their progress is the real win 💪🏼👏🏼

'I can’t tell you who was breastfed, but I can tell you who was read to.'

According to teacher and education speaker Mr P, the one thing that makes the biggest difference in the classroom? Reading. At home. With you.

Whether it’s ten minutes before bed, the same book on repeat, or a bleary-eyed story with dodgy accents – what really matters is showing your child that words matter. That they matter.

You’re not just reading a book. You’re building confidence. Vocabulary. Imagination. A lifelong love of learning.

And it’s never too late to start. Do you agree?

Share this reminder with someone who needs to hear it.

✏️ Back To School ✏️
Well that’s one term done and a Christmas holidays that went way too quickly as always! Most children are back to school today and will be getting straight back into their learning. Spring Term is usually a busy one especially as exam year groups start building up towards the tests in the Summer Term. It’s a great time to reflect on how well your child has settled into their new year group, what challenges they’ve faced and what the next few months will bring!

Another student win this week - she has passed her Functional Skills English Level 2 exams which she was working really hard towards! Now onto the Maths 🎉👏🏼