my god daughter has just e-mailed with a letter she plns to send to her school headteacher and governing body. she was bullied quite badly in y9 (she's y13 now and about to leave)and 1 particular teacher handled it quite horribly, here is her letter, would welcome any feedback... PLEASE

I am writing, somewhat belatedly to voice my concerns over the professionalism of Mrs X. I feel it necessary to draw your attention to her lack of professionalism in the hope that steps can, and will be taken to stop her from acting in such a way again.
During the academic year 2003-2004 I was a pupil in year 9, making her my head of year. I was also bullied by a group of girls in my form (9XX) upon gaining the courage to voice my concerns and appeal for help and guidance in this matter I was repeatedly told I was being melodramatic, that “‘X’ wouldn’t do that” and even that I was lying, “I have seven girls standing here who all say you’re lying, why on earth should I believe you?” throughout she acted in a very aggressive manner when speaking to me and made it abundantly clear she did not believe a word I was saying, (I have no history of lying or misleading anyone) this I feel stems from the fact that the ringleader of the girls bullying me was sporty and involved in many of the extra-curricular activities Mrs Hancock ran, consequently blatant favouritism was shown.

I suppose that with maturity I have found the courage to criticize and reflect upon her actions. I would hate to think of any future pupils being treated the way I was and feeling as vulnerable and betrayed as I did so I hope my writing this letter may, in some small way help to prevent that.

Ultimately while I accept that in many ways St X's is an exceptional school I feel that it has in several ways failed me.
In September 2001 I entered St X’s as a happy, confident child ready to face the world and this summer, as a direct result of my experiences in year 9, I shall be leaving a shy, anxious and fairly insecure young woman. I do not believe this ties in with St X’s ethos or mission statement.

bump?

sounds pretty good to me! very articulate and to the point without going overboard. how old is your god daughter?

Do you want to ask MN to delete the post as you have the teachers name in it (by mistake) - beofr etoo many people see it

she is 18, about to leave the school which is why she feels she can now write the letter, she felt it would cause too many problems/too much disruption to do so beforehand.
KatyMac, I don't think it will matter, its a reasonably common name (there's 2 at the school anyway and I remembered to X the school name/form group etc) if mumsnet feel it needs deleting that ok though

I think it is excellent.
What a pity it was not raised at the time, confronting someone who was complaining of bullying with the bullies and then shouting at the victim...yuk!
If I was the head techer I would have been mortified and the teacher involved should be disciplined.
I hope if anything horrid happens to your daughter in future she will have the courage to raise it to the highest level as soon as possible to weed this sort of thing out.

Really feel for her.
Please could you let us know the response.

xxx

She has actually spoken to the head who approached her, apparently randomly to talk to her and ask some leading questions about what happened, God daughter got the impression she was fishing for something concrete to pull this teacher up on, that perhaps something similar is going on now she did tell the head that she now feels she has matured enough and is comfortable enough in her own skin to openly make an official complaint/talk to the governers etc
I do hope there isn't another child going through what she went through though...

That's very sad. What a shame it wasn't handled properly at the time.

An excellent letter, well done to your god-daughter (who comes across as a very intelligent, thoughtful girl).

What a very brave and articulate young lady.
You must be really proud of her.

I am a teacher, and a governor and a parent of teenagers and I think it is an excellent letter and hope she gets the polite and considerate response that she deserves.

Good letter.

good letter take it she wont be egging and flouring mrs h tho at the end of term?