How to Support ‘The Anxious Generation’ in 2025: A Guide for Schools

As a school leader, you’re likely already thinking ahead to the challenges and goals of 2025. You’ve probably started planning how to improve academic performance, support students, and manage staff resources.

There’s one critical element that often gets overlooked.  That’s creating an exam stress management strategy that addresses the needs of The Anxious Generation.

By taking time now to reflect on what’s worked, anticipate challenges, and put a strong plan in place, you can set your school up for success.

With the right foundation, 2025 can be the year your students thrive, staff feel supported, and results reflect your hard work.

Here’s how you can use the last few weeks of the year to prepare an effective strategy for reducing stress and improving outcomes in the coming year.

Understanding The Anxious Generation: What Makes Today’s Students Different

Today’s school students are often referred to as The Anxious Generation. They grew up in a world shaped by uncertainty, and the Covid Pandemic. The isolation they went through meant they enjoyed few social experiences, which created uncertainly and anxiousness.  

For this generation it was period of social and emotional upheaval.

To help them best with any on-going mental health fall-out, schools need to tread with empathy, appreciating and addressing a range of personal responses.

The Hidden Impact of Stress on Learning and Academic Performance

Anxiety can mess with our students’ ability to perform well under pressure. Even the brightest of students can be overwhelmed by exams, and fear can undo any strengths.

The strongest candidates may appear to ‘freeze’, and whilst others may appear calm on the surface, they may react poorly to particular triggers.

Knowing what these are will help students create a personal plan.

When they have a way of responding to their fears, they can overcome any block.  The last thing you need at exam time is for your students to feel ill equipped to handle exam panic.

There’s always the unknown around anxiety. But if you address students’ triggers are and introduce a range of tried and tested calming strategies, they’re more likely to handle worry when it comes up.

Sharing  your stress strategies  with parents will help you increase the levels of support available.  Parents will want to provide positive encouragement and involving them in your school-wide approach includes them in your thinking.

Give them resources to help them through the exam period, offering advice on communication, home study, coping mechanisms and exam preparation.

Parents can do much to help students handle this anxious time. Consistency in your messaging is key.

Building a Supportive School Culture to Reduce Anxiety

For our Anxious Generation, a supportive school culture is important.  When students feel safe, respected, and understood, they are more likely to participate fully in their learning

What Wellbeing programmes do you have in place? There will be many different needs within this group of students, so offering a range of support mechanisms is important.

Some may benefit from a peer mentoring scheme.

Encourage staff to engage with stress training so they can have confident conversations and offer guidance when tricky things come up. 

Early Warning Signs of Anxiety and How to Intervene Effectively

Gear up your teachers and staff to spot signs of stress early.  Intervention will be easier and smoother when done early.

Get your Teams up to speed noticing the signs of anxiety.  What behavioural or emotional cues come up?

 It isn’t always the obvious things that we need to watch out for. Become aware of what’s unusual for them and don’t be shy of sharing your observations and kick starting your School’s Wellbeing Referral Strategies.

Students will need to find stress management strategies that work for them. 

Introduce a range of techniques and continue to provide opportunities for them to practice ideas until they find what works for them.

A joined-up approach, where everyone is geared up to play their part will help you support this Anxious Generation.

When you do that, they ‘ll start to find they can handle anything that comes up, anytime and anywhere.

Supporting  The Anxious Generation requires a multifaceted approach—one that combines early intervention, school-wide cultural shifts, and strong home-school partnerships. Now is the time to act, before anxiety further disrupts student success and wellbeing.

If you’re ready to take the next step in supporting your students, I invite you to join my Exam Reaction Plan. This signature program is designed to help both students and school staff manage exam stress and build long-term resilience. By addressing the root causes of anxiety, we empower students to reclaim their confidence, focus, and academic performance.

Don't wait until stress takes its toll. Sign up to get details when Exam Reaction Plan comes out and start building a school environment where every student can thrive, no matter what challenges they face.