Lottie overcomes crippling anxiety to pursue Paris dream

Lottie overcomes crippling anxiety to pursue Paris dream

A RIPON Grammar School student who once struggled to walk into exam rooms due to crippling anxiety is now preparing to pursue her dream of studying in Paris.

Lottie Whyte, from a farming family in Wensleydale, will begin a degree in French Studies at a UK university in Paris this autumn after achieving A, A, B in French, politics and English literature at A-level.

The delighted 17-year-old said: “I am so shocked as I had never fully sat an English exam before. I couldn’t make it through the mocks and struggled when I tried to re-take the mock paper on my own, just scraping an E.”

Lottie’s journey has been one of remarkable personal growth after arriving at Ripon Grammar School’s Sixth Form as a boarder from a much smaller secondary school.

As she adapted to boarding life, Lottie was also coping with severe anxiety.

“Some days I couldn’t get to lessons at all. I barely made it into my English mock exam because I was standing outside the room shaking so much, I didn’t think I’d be able to go in.

“Eventually, I went on medication because the panic attacks were affecting every part of my life.”

With support from the school’s Sixth Form team, wellbeing staff and teachers, she gradually developed the confidence and coping strategies to overcome those challenges.

Lottie explained how the school’s sixth form staff team and student counsellor Mrs Harry helped her understand anxiety wasn’t a personality flaw.

“They helped remove the shame I’d attached to it and taught me strategies I still use every day.”

A significant turning point came when members of staff suggested she might have ADHD.

“Deputy head of sixth form Mrs Lyons first raised the possibility and encouraged me to speak to our sixth form co-ordinator Mrs Feingold. They supported me through the whole process. Understanding my ADHD changed everything because I finally understood the root cause of so much of my anxiety. I realised I wasn’t ‘too sensitive’ or simply overthinking things.”

Lottie says that beginning ADHD treatment proved transformative.

“My anxiety symptoms actually started to reduce more after starting ADHD medication than when I first went on anxiety medication.”

As her confidence grew, so did her willingness to embrace new opportunities, including taking part in a Modern Foreign Languages debate in York and applying to study abroad.

“If you’d told me in Year 12 that I’d be planning to study in Paris, I would never have believed you. The people at RGS believed in me long before I believed in myself.”

Lottie’s proud parents said they were hugely grateful for everything RGS staff have done: “Lottie just seems so much surer of herself and who she is now,” said her dad, Ryan.

Her mum, Natalie, added: “We always knew RGS couldn’t be faulted for academics, but it’s the pastoral support that’s made the real difference to Lottie’s journey – especially with the whole ADHD process.”

Looking back on her two years at Ripon Grammar School, Lottie believes her greatest achievement has been her personal development.

“The biggest change hasn’t just been academically. It’s been my confidence, how I understand myself and how I approach life. I genuinely don’t recognise the person who first arrived at RGS.”

Reflecting on when she first joined sixth form, Lottie says: “Coming from a school of around 300 students was a huge shift,” said Lottie. “The first term was really difficult. It wasn’t homesickness - it was adjusting to a completely different environment, finding my place and learning how everything worked.”

By Year 13, she says, boarding had given her the independence she didn’t realise she needed: “I actually loved it. I ended up switching from weekly boarding to full-time because it kept me in a routine, helped me study and the activities meant I actually did something with my weekends instead of sitting at home bored.

“Boarding went from something overwhelming to something that genuinely supported me.”

Lottie explained how she used to be constantly tired because she couldn’t sleep properly and sometimes even became too overwhelmed to eat.

In addition to medication, strategies such as figure-of-eight breathing, putting her thoughts down in a notebook and going for a brisk walk, run or swim helped her cope.

And something that one of her teachers told her has been particularly meaningful.

“Mrs Lyons told me: ‘This difficulty will soon be proof of capability’. That’s the thing that’s stuck with me most, a reminder that hard moments pass and mean you’re growing, which has meant a lot. I say it all the time now.”

She added: “I’m so grateful to all the staff - boarding staff, teachers, the Sixth Form team and Jo. They showed me that RGS isn’t just somewhere focused on academic success. It’s a place where people genuinely care about you, and that’s what made all the difference.”