Year 7 EOY exams

[MrsHGWells]

looking for some experience on EOY exams. DS started having EOY MFL exams last week before HT and now faces another gruelling week of all other subjects. The revision workload appears unreasonably high and a hyperbolic increase in revision prep from primary school days. We have largely left DS to manage revision, as there has been regular unit tests and results have been solid. Is there any real purpose behind the exams at year7, or simply establishing strong revision routines and a baseline towards GCSE’s.

Not a teacher but I would say exactly as you have, establishing strong revision routines and a baseline towards GCSEs.
It was completely normal in my own school; yes, pressure but we were well prepared for GCSE.
AT DD's school, the first time she ever sat a proper exam in an exam hall (rather than a test in class time) was aged 15, three months before GCSEs started for real.
I know who was better prepared.

Different schools will have different takes.
At my DDs' school eoy7 exams were quite low key, but they were used to inform setting for the next year (as well as performance in class).

I think establishing strong revision routines is really good though. Too often there are threads where people say their y10/y11 doesn't really know how to revise.

(I do think you should check your y7 is feeling OK and under control though, and check whether they need any guidance with revision timetable or techniques.)

Our yr7 DC have had a 1/2 term of revising. Some will have done none. Some loads. Two weeks of exams. I really think they need this to get it into their heads that exams need revising for. They are being used to do sets for Yr8. I just wish they'd done more on exam techniques. Will be interesting to see the outcomes. The DC don't seem to be stressed by it

My DD's school has fortnightly 10 question mini assessments and then a bigger assesment once a term.

Y10 is the first formal exams - tbh she did 11+ so she's not feeling phased - I appreciate that's not the experience for most of them.

It's completely school dependent. Some are huge on end of year exams, some do none at all. Your son's school is a huge part of his world, so if school say they matter, then to an extent they do.

There are probably thousands of schools that don't do them so in that sense they are not essential, but he's at a school where there is a lot of pressure so you just need to help him cope with it. Hopefully it'll pay off when he's older. If he's at a private school or grammar, arguably it's just part and parcel of signing up for that extra academic push, but that doesn't mean it suits every child.