A Year 6 pupil has praised her school’s meditation sessions for helping her through her SATS.

Gracie Crankshaw, who attends St Mary’s RC Primary School in Langho, admitted in a letter to headteacher Caroline Boden that at first meditation was ‘just alright’, but then she learnt to trust the process and it helped her through the tricky paper.

There have been calls nationally in recent weeks to get rid of the primary school tests as they are said to be causing 'unnecessary stress' to pupils and 'leading to mental health problems'.

The supposed difficulty of this year’s reading paper has been under particular scrutiny.

Mrs Boden understands the pressure it puts on both pupils and parents and introduced meditation techniques into assembly a few years ago as a coping mechanism.

Children are taught to use meditation to imagine their own heartroom - a safe space, filled with love, and Gracie said that, during the second text in her SATs, she went to her ‘heartroom’ when she felt overwhelmed by the paper.

Gracie said in her letter to Mrs Boden: “I realised it was harder than it looked. I went to my heartroom and calmed myself down.

"I realised I only had 15 minutes left and I was terrified, but I gave it my all at the end.

“I thought to myself they don’t mean anything so you helped me through tough times and will always do. Thank you.”

Mrs Boden said: “We have passionately promoted meditation for the past two years.

“In our sessions, we use breathing techniques, relaxation techniques, visualisation, taste, sound and light, and we earth ourselves by taking our shoes off. 

“We have learnt how to anchor ourselves and visit our own individual heartrooms in our heads when we feel overwhelmed.

“Often, I’ve appealed to Year 6 to just try it - give it a go and enjoy the peace, and maybe it will help you one day.

“The day after the reading paper, I was given a letter by a thoughtful girl, Gracie, in Year 6.

“I am so proud with how they have developed a skill for life. 

“In an ever more challenging world, our children have a toolkit of resources to draw from whenever they need to. 

“We may wish they didn’t need to at all, especially in this test, but they are prepared nevertheless.

“Thank you Gracie for acknowledging this and showing just how amazing you all are.”