Bullies make young girl's life a misery

Jan 25 2008 by Dave Black, The Journal

WORRIED parents have moved their daughter to a new school after a vicious bullying campaign by other children spread to cyberspace.

Nine-year-old Megan Adams has been targeted by a small gang of bullies since she moved with her mother and father to Seahouses, Northumberland, almost two years ago.

Her distraught parents say she has been physically attacked and later verbally and emotionally tormented by a small group of girls ranging in age from nine to 13 – and recently the campaign spread to the msn online messaging service which Megan uses for internet chats with her friends.

Messages have been posted saying she is smelly and jealous, but the final straw came last week when a series of highly abusive and semi-pornographic messages appeared on screen.

Now her parents, teaching assistant Kathryn, 42, and painter and decorator Shaun, 40, have removed her from Seahouses Middle School and found her a place at Thomas Percy Middle in Alnwick.

They say the Seahouses school has failed to tackle the bullying problem and plan to send a dossier of their complaints to school governors.

They have also reported the matter to the police, who have told them to monitor the msn site and save and copy any further abusive or obscene messages.

Mrs Adams said Megan was first targeted by two fellow pupils when she started at the village first school. When she moved up to middle school, the couple explained the situation to staff and say they were told bullying would not be tolerated.

Mrs Adams said: “Megan has been there since September and the bullying has continued, with the same girls involved.

“There is one ringleader and a few others. It has been more mental than physical, but it has spread to the msn service, where she has been getting messages saying things like, ‘You are smelly’ and ‘You are jealous’.

“Then last Friday there were very abusive and semi-pornographic messages posted and that was the tipping point for us. We contacted the police and took her out of school. These messages were the icing on the cake for us because msn brought this into our home, where we should feel safe. We knew we could be prosecuted [for not sending Megan to school] but it is terrible to have your nine-year-old daughter awake at 2am and scared to go to sleep because she is thinking about having to go to school in the morning.

“She has been coming home from school crying and physically shaking, she has lost weight and the stress and worry has affected her education. We have had people come up to us at the weekend and say their daughters are receiving the same sort of messages.

“The police have told us to copy and paste everything which appears because if there are any more messages it is intimidation. The parents of the girls involved know what is happening, but we are not satisfied with the way the school has handled it.

“We have had no apology and we don’t believe their anti-bullying policy is robust enough. Megan is now going to bed able to sleep and is definitely relieved to be at a different school.” A Seahouses Middle School spokeswoman said it had taken the family’s concerns very seriously. She said staff had been made aware of “historic issues” from first school and teachers had kept a close eye on the children involved.

“We were not made aware of any problems until January 11, when the headteacher met with the mother to discuss what had happened in a particular incident.”

She said a strategy for helping Megan make new friends was discussed and she was told about a peer mentor or adults she could talk to.

“On January 17, the father came to the school about a separate incident. The following Monday, the parent came into school again about an incident involving msn which occurred over the weekend.

“The headteacher spoke to the police and spoke to the parents of the children involved, who are being punished at school this week. We are disappointed that this family have decided to move the child to another school, but feel strongly that at Seahouses Middle we have tried very hard to resolve these issues.”

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Be vigilant to tackle young cyber bullies

VAL MCFARLANE, Anti- Bullying Alliance North- East regional co-ordinator, says parents who fear their youngsters could be the victims of cyberbullying can take various actions.

She said: "My advice is to try and keep an eye as to what your child is doing online and try to know who they are talking to.

"There are many computer software programmes available, which sounds a little bit like spying but it will enable you to be alerted if certain swear words or phrases are used.

"If your child is unwilling to use their mobile phone or keeps it switched off, then ask them what the problem is as it could be a sign there is something wrong. They may also seem upset if they receive a text, but remember your child could also be doing the texting, so that’s something to keep an eye on.

"The network providers can also block numbers of those texting and take action online if they are abusing the system. We are finding that, often in boys, there are websites that are created which can also be closed down.

"Don’t reply to messages and always keep them or print off online messages as this is evidence and it can be shown to a teacher, which is important.

"The difference to playground bullying is that it can come home with you too, so there is no respite.

"However, what is different from technology to face-to-face bullying is that you can just switch it off."