The Empty Chair
School anxiety in the secondary school — a calm, practical handbook for Years 7 to 11.
Reintegration plans, three-way meeting scripts and adjustment templates — every printable tool in the book. Instant PDF download, plus a link emailed to keep.
Buy the e-book — £14.99Every printable included · no VAT · instant PDF download
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What this one’s for
The student who stops at the gate. The bright Year 9 who’s down to mornings only. The empty chair you’ve stopped marking. Emotionally based school avoidance in secondary is a slow, frightening drift — and the usual sanctions make it worse. The straight-talking handbook: how to read it, who to pull in, and how to bring a young person back without breaking the relationship.
- Tell EBSA apart from truancy — and respond right
- The transition and exam-pressure pinch points
- Use the system — pastoral, SENCo, CAMHS, EHCP — properly
Reintegration plans, three-way meeting scripts and adjustment templates — every printable tool in the book.
Who is this book for?
The Empty Chair is for secondary teachers, form tutors, heads of year and pastoral staff in England, Years 7 to 11, whose students miss lessons or whole days because of anxiety. It covers reading the register, the Year 7 transition, shutdowns and walkouts, exam pressure, working with home and the law on attendance.
What’s in the book
- The chair nobody mentions
- The list on the screen
- The adolescent anxious brain
- The push-pull map
- The faces of avoidance
- The pattern in the gaps
- One face in a building of fifteen hundred
- Lesson by lesson
- The shutdown and the walkout
- Exams and the pressure cooker
- Working with home
- Starting in the right corner
- The team around the young person
- The law without the jargon
- Holding the line and holding hope
- Where to start
Free templates from this book
These printables come with the e-book. You can also use them on their own, free:
- EBSA early-warning checklist
- Push and pull factors template for school avoidance
- Wellbeing check-in: 5-point scale template
- Pupil passport: one-page profile template
- Worry ladder: graded return template
- Key adult and safe base plan template
- Classroom adjustments card for anxious pupils
- Home–school agreement template for school anxiety
- Transition plan template: Year 6 to Year 7
- Return to school after absence plan
Questions this book answers
- What is emotionally based school avoidance (EBSA)?
- What do I do when a child won’t go into school in the morning?
- How can I support an anxious child moving up to Year 7?
- How do I help a student whose anxiety peaks at exam time?
- Can parents be fined if an anxious child misses school?
- When is a part-time timetable allowed?
