Does Your Bright Child Regularly Abandon Their Work?
You know that moment when your child says,
“I knew it… I just panicked.”
That’s the bit most people miss.
Bright children don’t usually struggle because they don’t understand.
They struggle because pressure changes how they think.
- When the timer starts.
- When the test paper lands.
- When they feel watched.
- Thinking narrows.
In cognitive terms, working memory shrinks.
So what you see is:
- Rushing.
- Second-guessing.
- Half-finished answers.
- “Silly” mistakes that don’t feel silly at all.
And the instinct is usually:
- More practice.
- More papers.
- More revision.
But here’s the uncomfortable truth.
- If they practise rushing, they get faster at rushing.
- If they practise guessing, they get better at guessing.
Under pressure, children repeat what they’ve rehearsed.
That’s why my programme isn’t built around piling on work.
It’s structured.
- We look properly at where pressure is interfering.
- We steady accuracy first.
- Then we layer in timed conditions gradually — without reinforcing the same pattern.
- And we measure whether it’s actually changed.
Because hoping they’ll “grow out of it” isn’t a strategy.
And Year 7 doesn’t reduce pressure.
If you’re starting to notice this pattern, you can find out more about the programme and decide whether it feels like the right fit for your child.
https://theparentteacher.co.uk..../callwithlearningarc
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