An average modern-day teenager faces pressures and problems every single day.

Whether it is bullying at school, huge amounts of coursework, looming exams drawing ever closer, pressurising parents or general day to day activities that just become too much. A teenager experiences it all.

As well as being expected to produce brilliant schoolwork and achieve well in exams, teens also have to deal with peer pressure, friends and bullies. Peer pressure is not as simple as succumbing to other people's ways in order to be like them.

Some teenagers change their appearance, clothes, lifestyle and even accent in order to fit in with a group of people. Others sub-consciously change their own attitudes towards life itself to 'fit in'.

Many people do not understand the complexities of peer pressure and school friendships. It is never as simple as "just forget it all and be friends", despite what adults may think.

School relationships between fellow classmates take months and even years to evolve. But, in spite of all those months of friendship, involving trips to the cinema, ice skating, sleepovers and days out, a friendship can be broken apart in a matter of seconds. Some harsh words, a nasty gesture and rumour spreading can destroy a once loyal friendship.

However hard the victims may try, it may not be easy to find new friends. For the lucky few who still have loyal friends, who haven't turned against them, their school years will be happy and full of laughter.

But, for the majority, some school days will be painfully miserable events in which they are ignored, used, unappreciated and, in some extreme cases, abused.

It is a hard thing to come to terms with, even for the most upbeat and lively teenager. Being deserted by a friend hurts a lot.

Nevertheless, things do eventually improve. As the old saying goes "every cloud has a silver lining." Some parents can never truly understand the pressures and problems that school brings, yet others try extremely hard to help. School may bring more problems than benefits, but in the end, secondary school does only last for five years and after those five years, teenagers can move on and forget.

School does bring stresses and strains, no matter who you are or how well you achieve. Despite all the negativities of school, teenage years can be the best years of your life. Teenagers get their GCSE results. Hundreds of teens find new friends and bond with old ones. Being a teenager means that you are still finding your feet in the world, discovering who you are and what you want to do.

Teens will choose their GCSE and A-level options, two of the most important school decisions throughout their years at school. School may grind people down, but it won't last.

It would help immensely if parents, teachers and fellow students were not so pressurising. A teenager is a teenager and there is nothing that can change who they really are.

● Francesca Pullinger is a Year 11 student at Orchard School, Bristol