My son will be doing GCSE's in May and June this year (2019). For most of year 11, we have not managed to get him into school. He does no revision whatsoever and won't sleep at night which makes him tired and very difficult to get out of bed. It seems he has become overwhelmed with everything making him anxious and depressed. We had a meeting with the headmaster who has let him drop some subjects and has put him on a part time timetable. We really thought this would be the answer, but no. He has seen the doctor who said he was mildly depressed and referred him too the NELFT NHS Emotional Wellbeing and Mental Health Service. We had a meeting with one of the practitioners. Since then my son doesn't want any counselling, or advice. There are waiting lists, so we booked a councillor to pay for, but my son refused to go. Its such a shame, because before year 11, he was so positive, saying he was going to try his best and really get into it. Now he is in year 11, he has done the complete opposite. He is perfectly capable of doing well, but is just throwing it all away. I don't know how we will get him to even do the exams! One good thing is he was interested in a college where you can go on to get an apprenticeship afterwards. I took him to a trial morning there and he really liked it. The trouble is, they are unlikely to take him in if he doesn't even do the exams. He can re-do Maths and English if he gets a low grade. I have heard of school phobia before. It seems my son has this even though it has just happened in his last year at school. Does anybody else have this problem? or is it just us. We feel so alone with it.