Ankle-socks is 11 years old. She's small, blonde, pretty and popular. She's in middle set maths and doing well, but the rate at which she puts her hand up has dropped over the last term, from 4 or 5 times a lesson to hardly ever. It wasn't a total surprise when I got the email.
Ankle-socks is 'school-phobic'. Her form teacher and parents have noticed that, despite her academic and social success, she does not enjoy school. She seems happy enough in lessons, and I have watcher her at break times chatting with her friends, but when she gets home every night she bursts into tears, and when she gets up in the morning she is desperate not to go to school. She has panic attacks at the bus stop, and has almost completely stopped eating.
The lesson after I got the email, she was smiling and enthusiastic about the work, and chatted to her classmates. I noticed her drifting off sometimes, but that's not altogether unusual. If I hadn't seen her that morning in tears in the front office, with her parents and form teacher trying to persuade her into school, I would hardly have believed the email. What to do?
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