We moved to D in September 2004 and
straight away K was bullied. He has been picked on most of his school
life because he is mildly autistic and has trouble mixing with children.
The bullies targeted his weight, his glasses and the fact that he
was on easier work than them. They called him names and this escalated
to shoving him.
One of his issues is privacy and he found it very hard to change
for PE and swimming. He can't dress as quickly as the others so
he was always the last to come out of school on PE days. I went
to school and asked if he could change in a toilet for swimming
after he wore his pants under his swimming trunks and then came
home with them under his uniform. He was soaked and had been teased
all the way home. Teachers agreed to allow him to do this. However
the next week he was made to change in the communal room again and
was surrounded naked by his fully dressed classmates and jeered
at. He came home hysterical.
The school failed to deal with all these problems so I rang the
Board of Governors. The Head of the Board did not ever return phone
callls. I contacted my local education authority and the police.
The Education Authority did nothing. They did not send anyone round
to help us or tackle the school. The police called a meeting with
the parents of the boys who were bullying K. This was helpful but
the main bully's parents would not punish him or agree to stop the
bullying.
Finally the main bully was still pinching K's food, threatening
him and shoving him. He called all K's work "crap" especially
his art which was the only subject K felt he achieved good work
in. He made his life hell. The school would not suspend him even
though he had beat up another boy and had bullied one boy for years.
I had no choice but to remove K and begin to home educate him. Strangely
enough as soon as I did I got a visit from someone from the Education
Authority. The help was never there when we needed it and I feel
let down by the whole system. My daughter remains in the school
as she is flourishing and enjoys it but I am very wary of school
now and would home educate her in the future if problems arise.
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