Developing Healthy Study Habits
As our students progress through the College, they are continually developing their organisation, planning and memory skills to aid their productivity, with the ultimate aim of achieving their academic goals. The knowledge that they have a due date looming can often cause feelings of despair, particularly when multiple pieces of homework are due, the number of assignments increases and examinations are on the horizon. How can our students prepare themselves to achieve their very best, and how can we support them? Developing healthy study habits is key and supporting our children to do so through gentle encouragement can help our students to achieve success.
In order to maintain healthy study habits, basic needs must be met before students are able to achieve their goals. If we consider Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs below (Figure 1), our most basic needs must be met before we are able to achieve our very best. Both at the College and in the home environment, a child can be provided with physiological, safety, belongingness and love needs, and when these needs have been met a child can flourish and reach their self-fulfilment needs.
Further to fulfilling basic and psychological needs, implementing the recommendations below can help to reduce stress throughout the school term and aid our students to develop healthy study habits and ultimately, achieve their goals.
Use of a diary. Students are encouraged to use their diary to record homework and diarise due dates for all assessment, co-curricular activities and big events, this is inclusive of both internal and external commitments. For Junior School students, this is through the College Diary, and for Senior School students, through the e-diary.
Develop a routine through a study schedule. This has many benefits, including providing students with the autonomy to allocate their time outside of school. When developing a study schedule, it is important to include ‘downtime’ or time allocated to carrying out hobbies.
Plan the time effectively during a study period. Consider what content needs to be covered during each session. Students may want to draw inspiration from Bloom’s Taxonomy (Figure 2) to structure this time; breaking the session down into the following sections:
- Remembering, reviewing content from the day’s lesson;
- Applying, practising questions;
- Evaluating, justifying your answers and determining whether they are correct.
The recommendations above are just a small number of ways to help support our students to achieve their very best and to promote healthy study habits. If your child would like support to help develop a study plan, please encourage them to make contact with their classroom teacher, tutor, Head of House or Head of Faculty.
Charlotte Brook
Head of Senior School
