One of our goals at maths teams is to lower the barriers some children face in taking up higher maths in secondary school and beyond. And that starts in primary school. It is why for now we are focused on state school children; it's why we require teams who enter a maths teams tournament to be gender diverse and it's why we have this forum - to discuss ideas of how to achieve that goal. This is a place to ask questions, share things that have worked - and those that haven't - and to post helpful resources. No ad hominems please.
Here's a piece from the NY Times No Such Thing as a Math Person with a good bit about maths anxiety (see what happened to the s there : ) https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/15/well/family/trying-to-add-up-girls-and-math.html
One thing we do in our coaching is to ask children how they feel about a question when we first pose it. We then discuss strategies of how we could begin to approach it. It helps break that anxiety and lets children know they are not the only ones feeling overwhelmed. And when they crack it, they realise they had the tools to do it all along and we share the euphoria of having overcome a seemingly impossible challenge. What works for your maths teams?