On April 11 Yew Chung International School of Beijing’s School Counsellor, Rachel George, will host a second workshop on “Beating School Anxiety”. Back by popular demand, Beating School Anxiety, Part II, will be open to both YCIS Beijing parents and the general public. We asked Rachel to share her thoughts on student anxiety and the aims of her upcoming workshop.

Why are students so anxious?

1. Family pressure: Students do not want to disappoint their families. This pressure tends to be particularly acute at highly competitive schools with very bright students and highly engaged parents.
2. Over scheduling: Many students have very demanding schedules with little or no unstructured or “free-time”, which can make it hard for children to relax.
3. Lack of control: Some students in addition to having very busy schedules, also have little input on the activities and classes they spend their time on. This can lead to feelings of frustration which can feed stress and result in anxiety.
4. Lack of context: Young people lack the life-experience required to stresses into proper context. Set-backs and failures tend to feel like permanent conditions.
5. Peer pressure: YCIS Beijing has very high academic standards, as do many international schools, we attract extremely bright students and have a highly competitive environment. Students can find keeping up with their peers difficult and stressful.

Why is addressing student anxiety important?

Addressing anxiety in students is key to ensuring and promoting their mental health and wellbeing. While anxiety is unpleasant, it is not something that can be eliminated, however, with the right toolbox of skills, resources and strategies it can be very effectively managed. We see students experiencing high levels of stress daily at our school, which can lead to anxiety. We want to help them successfully cope and thrive in our challenging and rigorous academic environment. Their parents, guardians and caretakers are our best resource to do this effectively, so we want to train them.

How will this school anxiety workshop differ from the first one?

New tools, concepts and strategies will be introduced during our “Beating School Anxiety, Part II” workshop and more “Makes & Takes” exercises will be incorporated into the session. Among the new tools to be introduced is a weekly scheduling calendar to help attendees to map and manage their children’s schedules, develop their children’s executive skills, and provide greater transparency and clarity to reduce the anxiety of uncertainty. The concept of mindfulness will be explored. Specific strategies for each developmental group will be given. And finally, more hands-on exercises, our “Makes & Takes” will be used to provide parents and caretakers an opportunity to practice skills they can use at home.

Who should attend?

Anyone who cares for or works with children can benefit from this workshop. Parents who attended the last workshop should definitely return as new tools, skill and strategies will be introduced that can build upon what they’ve already learnt.

To sign up for Rachel's workshop,click here.