Cheerful, confident 4yo suddenly clingy and refusing to go to school. Normal?

[SharingMichelle]

Is there such a thing as a 4yo regression in terms of confidence?

She has always raced in to school without a backward glance. Now she's tearful and clinging to my leg.

I'm trying to get to the bottom of what's going on. Just wondering if perhaps nothing is going on, and it's just a stage?

Probably something has happened at school. Can be difficult for little ones to say what's wrong.Try not to worry I'm sure between your Dd, you and the school it will get sorted.

I agree with the pp, something has probably happened to spark this off. She might not be able to explain or even clearly understand the incident that led to her feeling worried. It could be something really minor like, I looked for you to wave goodbye and couldn't see you, or something more complex like a falling out with a friend or correction in class.
My youngest can hold a grudge against a teacher for weeks if he is told off for something but that is just something he will have to learn to deal with!
I would talk to the teacher and ask them for some tlc until she feels a bit better again.

My DD was like this for a few weeks soon after starting reception. I was surprised, because she'd always been fine at nursery - and the nursery is attached to the school, so she was literally in the next door classroom, with all the same kids. I think in her case it was the transition from mornings only to all day that she found difficult and tiring.

It helped DD to take in her special bedtime soft toy (does your DD have one?). This felt like a step backwards, as she hadn't taken it to nursery, but it seemed to really help her feel secure.