Looking for new ways to help your child revise effectively for their AQA science GCSEs? We’re here to help with the Oxford Revise Exam Tutor, in association with ExamJam. Read on to find out more about how the Tutor can support your child and grow their exam confidence.

Helping your child succeed with the Oxford Revise Exam Tutor

As a parent, you want the best for your child – especially when it comes to their GCSEs. We know how stressful exam preparation can be, but with the right tools and support, your child can walk into the exam hall confident and ready to succeed. That’s why we’re excited to introduce the Oxford Revise Exam Tutor, a FREE revision tool designed to support your child’s learning and GCSE Science exam preparation.

What is the Oxford Revise Exam Tutor?

Oxford Revise is an award-winning series that teachers and students trust! It has a proven three step method to effective revision and exam success: knowledge, retrieval and practice. For the 2025 exams, we’ve created the Oxford Revise Exam Tutor, in association with ExamJam, a FREE digital revision tool to support students with preparing for their AQA Science exams.

Help your child make every minute of revision count with:

• All the knowledge they need for their AQA Science GCSEs broken down into manageable chunks
• Quick-fire digital flashcards to help information stick and build up their long-term memory
• The AI Oxford Revise Exam Tutor on hand just like a teacher to answer questions and support them if they get stuck
• Lots of exam-style questions which the Tutor will mark just like an examiner, so they know how they are doing, and what to revise next
• Progress tracking to help them stay motivated and on-track with their revision

Ready to get started?

Help your child prepare effectively for their science GCSEs and share the Oxford Revise Exam Tutor with them. The perfect companion to their trusted Oxford Revise Revision Guides.

What are other parents saying?

“My daughter found it useful and engaging” AQA Science GCSE Parent

“A very useful tool especially when it goes into detail if the student gets the question wrong” AQA Science GCSE Parent

“Helpful and effective due to the variety of revision methods – e.g. Flashcards, questions and information.” AQA Science GCSE Parent

“Especially liked the flashcard element for testing revision” AQA Science GCSE Parent

More from Oxford Owl

• How to support your child with their GCSEs
• Discover the Oxford Revise Revision Guides

Very Short Introductions for Curious Young Minds: The earth’s Immense Oceans

Written By Isabel Thomas

Age 9+

Very Short Introductions for Curious Young Minds are here to offer your child an accessible introduction to the ideas, facts and vocabulary behind an absorbing range of topics.

Written by leading experts in simple language, these small but mighty books bring the fascination of Oxford’s Very Short Introductions to a younger audience. Each book is packed full of clear and entertaining explanations, brought to life by comic strips, photos, and illustrations.

In this latest book in the series, your curious young reader will have fun discovering how oceans work, the creatures that live in them, and how they have been affected by humans.

Win The Earth’s Immense Oceans

You could win one of three copies of The Earth’s Immense Oceans to inspire your little learners over on the Oxford Owl Facebook page. To enter, simply comment on the competition post with your favourite ocean-themed emoji.

UK residents only. Entry closes at 11.59pm on Sunday 28th May 2023.

About the book

About the AuthorÌę

Isabel Thomas is an award-winning science writer and the author of more than 150 books about science and nature for young audiences.ÌęShe is the winner of the AAAS Subaru prize for excellence in science books.

More from Oxford Owl

• Six super science activities to try at home
• Books to inspire young scientists
• Science at primary school
• Talking about climate change at home

Three years ago, my 8 year old daughter came home from school in tears. Between her sobs, I learned that she had been told that her overzealous use of glue stick meant that her kids would die in 2050. As a climate change communicator for over a decade, I realised how urgently our young people needed more support with the climate emergency.

Over the past few years, climate change has become increasingly prominent, with warnings in the news, school strikes, posters warning of a countdown to extinction
 While many UK children, and adults, could until relatively recently hide or be protected from the truth of what we face, this is changing, particularly with increased access to media and smart devices.

Climate anxiety is on the rise, with almost half of young people worldwide in a 2021 survey saying that eco-anxiety negatively impacts their everyday life. Climate education remains largely absent from our schools and children are increasingly seeking answers.

And so, it falls to adults like you and me (parents, carers, teachers, scout leaders
) to think carefully about how we engage our children and have the important conversations which will prepare them to survive and thrive.

It can be hard to do this well, and very easy to cause extra anxiety. So, what have I learnt in the last three years about how we should engage, in a way that is honest, but also safe and empowering?

Start with yourself and put on your own oxygen mask before assisting others.

Psychotherapist Jo McAndrews describes children as our Bluetooth speaker: whatever state we are in, children are likely to pick up on and amplify it. When we are in an ungrounded state, we find it harder to respond to situations in the clear-headed, creative, and sensitive way that a good climate conversation requires. Creating emotional connection with others is key to discussing difficult things, and to be able to connect effectively, we need to be in a calm and grounded state.

Ways to start:

• • Find ways to look after your own emotional wellbeing, get the support you need and ‘build a village’ of supportive others around you. This might be other parents/carers/teachers in your community, or you might look to wider established networks, like .
  • Find good sources of information to have at your fingertips; you will inevitably be asked questions you cannot answer. Check out , a website created by a nonpartisan group of climate scientists and mothers.
  • And importantly, think through what action you want to take yourself to tackle the climate crisis, so you don’t project your own need to do something onto the young people looking to you for guidance.

If you need professional support, many therapists are aware of eco-anxiety and groups like the offer tailored support.

For under 7s, you don’t need to mention climate change.

Climate Change is a complex idea. Instead, focus on nurturing young children’s innate biophilia, encouraging a love of the natural world around them and lay the important groundwork.

Jump in puddles, feed ducks, make rainbows, collect autumn leaves.

Starting tips:

• • Use books and music to introduce, normalise and inspire. Stories don’t have to be overtly environmental in theme; one of my personal favourites is Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler’s The Ugly Five, which teaches the intrinsic value of the world’s less beautiful beasts. In Clean Up!, by Nathan Bryon and Dapo Adeola, we meet feisty and loveable Rocket as she pulls a community together to clean up the litter-strewn island where her grandparents live.Ìę For a list of books which feature lead characters from diverse ethnic backgrounds, key to building the inclusive environmental movement of the future, see . Favourite music includes the songs of and anything by Australian ‘ecological edutainment’ trio, . Make it fun, by having a dance!
  • Lead by example and explain your actions. Small children notice our everyday actions, and we can add to their learning by taking the time to verbalise our intentions. Talk about why you put things in the recycling bin or leave the autumn leaves on the ground in the garden.
  • Start proactively building the skills children will need as they grow up. Build trust, interpersonal skills, emotional literacy. Start with .

For 7-11s, a good message is that ‘lots of adults are working on it, but if you want to help, here are some ideas for how you can’.

As children get older, they are much more likely to start encountering the idea and language of climate change. We cannot protect them from it, but we can accompany them and help them find their own way and build their resilience.

Starting tips:

• • When supporting their learning about the environment, start with what they know already, and build basic knowledge from there.
  • Offer a variety of actions that are relevant to their everyday lives. You can find six areas of action, with accessible and concrete ideas in the . Make sure you also ask THEM for their ideas. They’ll have great ones and be much more engaged if action comes from them.
  • Use the power of stories from all over the world; borrow stories from other struggles of how people overcame great odds. And ask them how they think the story should end. A few books to try include:

1. 1. 1. Dr Mya-Rose Craig’s We have a dream: 30 stories of young indigenous people and people of colour around the world taking action to protect the planet
      2. Tim Allman & Nick Shepherd’s Max takes a stand: the accessible and light-hearted fictional tale of Max, who wakes up one morning and realises BIG CHANGE is needed right now
      3. Georgina Stevens’s Stella and the Seagull: a picture book about one small girl’s campaign to clean up the beach.

• • Emphasise the importance of talking about how they feel, to enable the processing of emotions, and let them know that all feelings are welcome, however messy, contradictory, and changeable they may be. There are a range of tools you can use to encourage and enable emotional literacy, including emotions cards and ‘the anger iceberg’, and modelling this yourself can really help.
  • Be honest and open. Relationships built on trust are key to building resilience in young people. At the same time, it’s important to be mindful of what you expose them to and try to keep information to what they need to know.
  • Emphasise it is okay not to have all the answers, and that it is okay if they don’t want to take action or join the youth strike. Show them how to search for reliable information.

A couple of closing thoughts

It’s OK to get it wrong. None of us will get it right all the time but taking the time to think about how you engage is a great first step.

Don’t go it alone. Having a supportive network to draw on, and for any child to draw on, is priceless.

Google is your friend. Keep learning and accept you will not have all the answers.

Good parenting and teaching is activism.Ìę You do not need to be engaging in any formal climate activism to be doing important work. Building strong and supportive connections matters, and as Jo McAndrews says, just holding a baby is contributing to a better future.

LOOK AFTER YOURSELF. The climate crisis is scary, and this is a hard time to care for children. Any engagement with others will be far more effective if you are looking after your own needs too.

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