16 yrs. Grade 11

My son (now 16) has always had a difficult time in school. He was labelled early as hyper and impulsive, but he was happy and wanted to befriend everyone. This label followed him everywhere. The phone calls came so often and were so stressful that, every day at 1:30, I would turn my phone on silent because, like clockwork, they would call and complain about him, and I would stress and feel hurt, knowing that this was it for him; this was going to be his whole school experience, no matter where we moved or what we did. He was…

13 yrs. Grade 7

My daughter was diagnosed with autism, ADHD, and anxiety at age 7. Despite years of trying, my (very high-functioning) daughter received her first IEP at the age of 11. (She is currently 13.) It was too little too late. At this point, she had endured years of bullying and numerous outbursts from teachers (in frustration to her panic attacks and crying), so did not feel safe in class. Between March 2017 and February 2019, my daughter missed over 180 days of school. We moved her to a new school in November 2018 where she got a fantastic plan, which was…

16 yrs. Grade 11

My son was born different. I didn’t notice how much that would be a problem until he started school. It took 6 years of headaches, tummy aches, tears, wetting his pants, purposely throwing up, uncontrollable ticks, constant errors on paper when it came to tests, constant reminders that my child was impulsive, unorganized, easily distracted, lazy, lacks effort, to be diagnosed with anxiety and possibly ADHD. We went to therapy with a child-adolescent mental health worker for another 5 years. We did really well with cognitive behavioural therapy. He was put on Concerta, and never did get a learning assignment…

14 yrs. Grade 8

Teachers are trying to teach at all levels, and they are overwhelmed. Less mature students are being moved along in the education system and are in grades that aren’t academically fitting for them. They are creating chaos and upset in a setting that is above their social and academic level. I believe if children aren’t academically ready for a certain grade, they need to be held back, as it’s now creating stress on them and on those that are academically ready for these classes.

16 yrs. Grade 11

My daughter has high-functioning anxiety and depression. School is the thing that triggers her anxiety the most. Every day, she feels extremely pressured by the amount of homework she receives in advanced courses. She literally feels like it is endless and that she can’t catch a break. She gets marks in the high 90s, but it’s the constant homework and pressure that makes her hate school.

11 yrs. Grade 6

My son has struggled since junior kindergarten. He has slipped through and is not getting a proper education. He has been suspended 4 times this year. He just wants to be in school and learn. They are not following the Individualized Education Plan and safety plan and he suffers. I feel bullied and intimidated by the school system.

9 yrs. Grade 3

My child was always anxious about school. He has a learning difference. When he couldn’t do things, he attracted attention by acting silly. He started getting into trouble; this made him more anxious. There was downward spiral. The school did not recognize his learning disability. They thought he was purposefully choosing not to do his work. The more they pushed for compliance, the more anxious he became. He started experiencing physical symptoms. He would willingly go to school each day, but when he got there, he was unable to do what they asked, so they sent him home. We went…

13 yrs. Grade 7

My son would have anxiety attacks starting in grade 3 and self-harmed in these moments at school. He would be sent to the office to sit in a noisy office till the end of school. He would come home red-faced and refused to talk about it. He would make himself sick and beg me to be homeschooled. His teachers only poked the bear when he was stressed out. Only in grade 6 did we finally switch schools, and this new one got all the tests and help in less than a year. With the new school, we had rides to…

15 yrs. Grade 10

Unfortunately, one paragraph would not even begin to explain the pain, anguish, and heartache our family has undergone over the last 10 years around school refusal. We are truly exhausted. Our son could read at 2 1/2 and was so excited to start JK and follow his two older sisters to “big” school. He went the first day and came home and refused to go back the next day and almost every day since, and he is now in grade 10. He was eventually asked to leave JK in October that year because “he isn’t ready for school and he…

10 yrs. Grade 5

This is the second time we have experienced school refusal due to anxiety, first in kindergarten and now in grade 5. (We left public school in kindergarten and were forced to move into distributed learning.) Thank god they have that in BC, so we could do part-time homeschool and attend part-time classes at a local brick-and-mortar school. The teacher and school refused to allow us to attend KINDERGARTEN on a part-time basis. We were pressured into full-time and told that there was something wrong with us; the teacher actually said, “Must be nice to be able to come and pick…