Being at school can be hard for lots of reasons. Bullying, struggling with your lessons, arguments with your friends and issues with your teachers  can all contribute. Sometimes you might feel like you would simply rather be at home.

Lots of people will tell you that school is very important for your future, and that is true, but if you are having problems like the ones mentioned above it can be hard to concentrate. The best thing to do is to look for help. For whatever reason, being upset at school can have an impact on your home life too and can lead you to feel like not going to school at all.

Our advice on this would be to start at the basics which would be: have you spoken to a teacher about how you are feeling?  Sometimes there are teachers who are dedicated to dealing with these issues and they might be the best place to start. Of course, this can be easier said than done and it might be that you want to speak with us or another service instead.

Whatever you choose, don’t feel like you are alone in this. If it is something like bullying getting you down, or you are worried about exams, there are services (like Runaway Helpline but more specialised in those areas) that you can contact. Remember, you can always keep in touch with us as well by phone, text or email.