Public Forums

View latest posts View Archive
  1. Public Forums
  2. Education
  3. Am I Over Reacting?

Am I Over Reacting?

Bookworm 71 March 26, 2023 09:08

Our AD started Y7 last September. Until Christmas everything seemed to be going OK. Since returning this year she seems to have become very isolated and is hanging out in lunch/ break times completely on her own. She recently said she'd made some friends a couple of years older, alarm bells started ringing, before I had a chance to investigate there was an incident, The girls in question are from Year 10, The other day in break the girls and some of their friends surrounded AD and wouldn't let her past and started teasing her, she reacted by lashing out. One of them went to get a teacher who ended up blaming AD for incident and placing her on report. I have since emailed the school saying how threatened and anxious the incident had made her, also for clarification that they hadn't used their phones and recorded it. I have had no response.

Am I over reacting in thinking this is a safeguarding issue and should have been handled differently?

TIA

chestnuttree March 28, 2023 19:28

I don't think you are. A traumatised Y7 girl has an incident with several Y10 girls. There is clearly a power imbalance and it is unlikely that your daughter started the incident. Even if she did, the older girls should have diffused the situation or not engaged at all. The school might have CCTV of the incident; I would ask to see that. I would also get the school's LAC person involved and ask how they are planning to safeguard your child and how they will supervise her during break time.

Edited 28/03/2023
Safia March 30, 2023 08:28

I would ask for a one to one meeting with the person who deals with previously looked after children or (but preferably and) her tutor and explain a bit about her background - doesn’t have to be more than the basics - emphasising what a vulnerable young person she is. They need to look out for her in the playground and also find ways of helping her develop more appropriate friendships. Is there anyone from her old school there? Any school clubs she’d be interested in joining? Anyone you lives near she could walk with? Secondary school is a nightmare - they seem to turn a blind eye to bullying and are not good at dealing with it (in my experience) so you have to be on the front foot all the time. Good luck

Read-Only

This topic is read-only. You must log in to reply.