When School Feels Too Big
School anxiety in the primary classroom — a calm, practical handbook for Reception to Year 6.
Return plans, parent-meeting scripts and reasonable-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 tears at the gate. The Sunday-night stomach ache. The pupil who was fine in Year 2 and now can’t cross the threshold. Emotionally based school avoidance isn’t truancy and it isn’t naughtiness — it’s anxiety, and it answers to the right calm, practical steps. The do-it-Monday handbook: what to say, who to involve, and how to build a return that actually holds.
- Spot EBSA early — before the absence sets hard
- What to say to a frightened child, word for word
- Build a graduated return with the family and SENCo
Return plans, parent-meeting scripts and reasonable-adjustment templates — every printable tool in the book.
Who is this book for?
When School Feels Too Big is for primary teachers, teaching assistants, SENCos and family support staff in England whose pupils struggle to get through the gate because of anxiety. It covers spotting emotionally based school avoidance early, the hard mornings, keeping a child in the room, working with parents and when to bring others in.
What’s in the book
- It isn’t that she won’t come in
- It was never truancy
- A headache the office can’t pin down
- Why her, why him, why now
- The quiet one and the clinger
- The slow leak you can still catch
- Somewhere soft to land
- The morning that goes wrong
- Keeping them in the room
- What the whole class is breathing
- Walking with the parents
- One rung at a time
- When to bring others in
- Knowing the law without being a lawyer
- The long haul
- One thing, and then the next
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
