When school is too scary

As a teacher, Charlotte Morbey had always been sceptical about school phobia until her son threatened to jump from the window sill.

She thought she knew about school phobia. In common with colleagues, she used the terms "school phobia" and "school refusal" interchangeably. She was sympathetic but sceptical. She felt it was probably exaggerated and pandered to by parents who colluded with difficult children for a quiet life.

Then Charlotte's son developed school phobia. It started with headaches and stomach pains every day. Her first thought was that he was making them up, but they seemed genuine. They talked about school - was he being bullied; was the work too hard; did he have friends? Everything was fine, he said. He just felt ill.

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