loopyloulaura

I invigilated a mock exam last week and as I wandered up and down the aisles it dawned on me that it has been 25 whole years since I was doing my exams.

25 years!

A quarter of a century!

I still remember sitting at my desk, the nerves, the adrenaline, the relief. I quite like exams and a few years ago I reflected on my exam results. But another few years have disappeared since then!

I have written some exam posts before. One is some advice that I will give to my own kids. The other two are dedicated to two children I watched in their exams: one wrote nothing except his name and the other left the room in floods of tears before returning.

The problem is that I don’t feel like I’m in my 40s. But my automatic reaction now is to go into ‘mum mode’ when I see kids struggling. My eldest is now in Year 9 so he will be starting to do exams to get into practice and in just two years he will be doing his GSCEs. I try to offer reassurance whilst also a professional distance when dealing with the kids in exams and I hope others will treat my chidlren with care and respect too.

Despite feeling like I’m still in my 20s, there is now way I would go back to my teens. I think that social media and the omniscience/omnipresence of phones means our mistakes exist forever and this must be a huge burden for young people.

A decade of my life has definitely vanished without a trace. Anyone else feel the same?