Aikido Auckland Seishinkan holds children's grading exams at the end of each term. The dates are posted on our calendar.

The exams are designed to;

• give the children goals for their training 

• allow them to assess their progress and areas for improvement

• recognise their achievements 

Students must complete the required number of classes in order to be elligible to test and Sensei may advise that more study time would be prudent before attempting a test. (Please be sure to check-in for every class as the dojo is not responsible for back-dating classes that were not logged.) The requirements for each kyu or grade are available on our Children’s Syllabi page. The first grade is Junior Semi 10th Kyu.

Children in the 10-12 year old class may be given the opportunity to skip semi kyu ranks between 10th and 6th kyu.

A list of those eligible to grade is posted on the notice-board the week before the exam.

Exam Day

Exams will be from 10:30 as usual for Saturday class but may run late depending on the number of exams being conducted.

All students are expected to attend, whether they are testing or not. It is very important that everyone in the dōjō supports one another on these occasions and it is not appropriate for a child to miss the class because they are not personally testing.

As always, be at the dojo with time to spare, in a clean dōgi (if you have one), tidily groomed.

Family and friends are very welcome and warmly invited to watch the exams.

The class will start with warm-ups and basic exercises as usual. When the exams begin, the children will be seated at the back of the room. A committee of seniors will be seated along the front, left hand side of the dojo and the exams will proceed in this way;

• The kyū being examined will be announced

• The names of the students being examined will be read out and they will come forward to line up as they would at the beginning of class, facing the shomen, and with their uke (grading partner) seated on their left hand side

• On the command shōmen ni rei, they bow once towards the front of the dojo

• On the command shinsaiin ni rei, they turn towards the grading panel and bow saying onegaishimasu

• On the command otagai ni rei, they turn and bow to their uke saying onegaishimasu

• The required techniques will be called by the examination panel and the examinees will repeat that technique over and over until the next technique is called or they are asked to stop

• At the end of the exam, on the command otagai ni rei, they sit where they are and bow to their uke saying thank you very much

• On the command sei retsu they return to their line facing the front of the dojo

• On the command shinsaiin ni rei, they turn towards the grading panel and bow once saying arigatō gozaimashita

• On the command shomen ni rei, they turn towards the front of the dojo and bow once, returning to the other students at the back of the dōjō.

The examinations will continue in this manner until all are completed. At the end of the exams students will be called forward in their respective kyū groups to receive feedback from the examination panel and will be informed if they have passed or not. Whatever the result students should thank the panel and return to their place in the line. 

After the exams are formally ended, students should congratulate those who sat the exam for the effort they made.

Certificates and, when due, belts will be awarded during the following week.