It is difficult to find a cure for a health issue if we cannot identify the cause. Mental health is no different.

I was recently looking at data from an ongoing study that I am involved in, which is tracking the number of pupil referrals for mental health support in 70 schools across the 4 to 19 age range.

The data suggests a clear link between pupils’ mental health problems and sitting examinations. There was a steady rise in referrals through Years 4 and 5. The number of referrals for Year 6 was lower than for Year 5, but my guess would be that this was because after the second week of May, the pupils were doing everything but prepare for Sats - the curse of the anxiety may have been lifted.

The pattern was similar in secondary schools, with referrals increasing steadily and then reaching a huge peak in Year 11.

However, the transition from Year 6 to Year 7 seemed to have minimal impact on pupils’ mental health. Years 12 and 13 also had relatively low referral rates, possibly because of non-disclosure, or perhaps because if students make it that far, they have likely already learned to cope more effectively with exam stress.

The study is still very much a work in progress, but this tiny trawl through the data seems to support a truth that many teachers already suspect - testing impacts negatively upon our pupils’ mental health. So, if that is the case, what should we do about it?

Well, testing isn’t going away any time soon. One answer, which I keep coming back to, as a school leader, seems blindingly obvious: to make sure that we teach as well as we possibly can, so that the exams themselves become less daunting.

Teachers are unable to change the system itself. We can’t get rid of testing. And so the best thing that we can do is to help our pupils to survive within the system that we have. This means teaching them brilliantly, allowing them to experience success and making sure that they are as well-prepared for exams as possible.

I know it all sounds so simple. But if there really is a link between exam stress and poor mental health, one of the most useful things that teachers can do is to make exams as painless as possible.

That starts with creating a culture of continuous improvement in schools and being the best that we can be in the classroom.

John Tomsett is head at Huntington School in York and a member of the Headteachers’ Roundtable. He is the author of This Much I Know about Mind Over Matter. He tweets @johntomsett