Hello everyone. I've been a bit of a voyeur on this site for a while, and found it really useful and comforting to realise that I'm not alone in finding the teenage years so much more of a challenge than I expected. I didn't know I was born with my first one, it was relatively stress & trouble free, but with no 2 I have got a whole heap of issues! I apologise for the length of this post in advance, but I'd really appreciate some advice on how to deal with my dd's refusal to go to school. She's currently in her first year of GCSEs, 14 (summer baby) Unfortunately she has made friends with some girls who have really poor attendance, which is sanctioned in part by their parents. Year 10 began badly with some bullying & other issues, but these seemed to be resolved by the school although dd was furious with me for continuing to expect her to go to school when it all went on, my view was that she was innocent and it's best to face up to these things. However, I obviously got that wrong because since then her attendance got worse and worse, and now at least one day a week she simply refuses to get out of bed. Only actually truanted twice (eg i thought she was at school and she wasn't). She says she's not being bullied, but finds the work boring and has become aggressive towards the teachers (a new thing). last year was really difficult, and i took her to the Dr to ask for some counselling, as she was drinking & tried to self-harm twice. She went, but said it was useless & refused to go to family counselling. Since then however she has stopped drinking & generally been much more responsible and a pleasure to live with. And then this! I really worry that something awful is going on, but she seems happy to talk to me about everything (I'm sure she keeps some things back) & generally if she is upset she tells me what's wrong. She is a very bright child, and doesn't have trouble keeping up with the work and seems to have plenty of friends. I didn't have any problems with my son (now 17) and feel dreadful that I was a bit dismissive of his 100% attendance record! What's so frustrating is that I feel completely useless - I've tried being sympathetic, I've tried restricting priviledges such as pocket money being dependent on her going to school, confiscating mobile phone/restricting computer time etc. to my shame I've also resorted to screaming my head off but nothing seems to help. We can have really good conversations when i feel we've cracked it & she promises to give it a go & then the next morning back to square one. Worryingly most of the stuff I've read about on this suggests that it's not going to stop and I'm in this for the duration. She's still got another year at school, so I'm also worried about the threat of prosecution. I've had one letter from the EWO saying that they were monitoring her attendance but since then nothing. I've tried to call the EWO 3 times & the school attendance secretary promises me that she's passed on the message, but she doesn't return my calls. The school is sympathetic but just tells me to get her to come in as often as I can. Anyone got a magic wand??