mocked for Gold DofE and 'acting British'

Horrendous, jealous little bullies.

OP, easier said than done at her age but perhaps remind her that people with her bullies mindset seldom get very far in life. Pathetic little racists that they are.

A massive well done to her on achieving gold and every success for her future.

Honestly, this.

Xenophic little twats. Honestly its deep jealousy and I think they just went for the easiest low hanging fruit of an insult with their bullying that they thought would hurt her, and that was targeting her for being Eastern Eueopean. Like Farage and his anti Jew slurs at school. Its so vile. I second making a fuss of her at the weekend. Separartely I'd speak to the and ask it to be kep private as a conversation as I think the school needs to know.

Congratulations to your DD on her achievement! Im a rainbow and brownie leader (also in SW London as it happens) and our DofE volunteers are so often a joy and absolute asset to our units.

Im very sorry shes experiencing this. It is bullying as pp have said. Is she about to finish for the easter holidays? Maybe give it a few days, let her have a break away from school and then raise the issue of reporting again. These children are nearly adults and need to understand there are consequences to their behaviour.

Sounds like the other kids are feeling jealous of the attention, praise and trip to BP your dd is getting, it's not the way to deal with negative emotions and someone needs to have a firm chat with them - you need to talk to the school.
Well done to your DD on completing the Gold, it's quite a challenge, no doubt she learned a lot but she also needs to learn that some people are twats - they use their failure in life to attack others - it's a them problem, be upset but move on - don't let the bastards grind you down - that's the way they win.

I’m so sorry your daughter experienced this. I’d send an email to the head of year or pastoral care at the school and mention that she is being bullied / discriminated against and ask them to keep an eye out to ensure it doesn’t continue

Across Social Media it's been suggested that you aren't British unless your parents were. It's no doubt getting repeated in homes. My sister attended the anti fascist march in Liverpool (where we were both born) this was something thrown at her. I've had to avoid going to the pub when some things happen, becausethe conversations are going to get nasty and personal. This new angle of racism is worrying. Just have honest conversations around what makes people bullies and what's going on politically.

That small group of nasty, jealous losers does not speak for the whole of the UK. Your daughter needs to get a grip. Whenever she achieves anything in life, there will always be nasty jealous losers slavering to tear her down. This happens to all successful people. Hopefully she will go on to be very successful in life, so she had better get used to this phenomenon, which is universal to all human societies.

This is horrible op. Not sure if this helps but anyone who tried hard in my school would get mocked by a certain crowd. It had nothing to do with their background as the school was 99.9% white British. It was definitely jealousy from kids who put in little to no effort at school and presumably weren't encouraged to try hard at home.

You sound like a lovely family, I’m so sorry your DD was treated like this.

What a strange mindset of those kids. DofE is a perfectly normal thing to do at dds (state) school more do it that don’t do it. No way would it be something worth teasing about. The culture at your child’s school sounds really off.

That is SO mean! Who are these people? Complain to the school. Tell DD to ask those very mean students when they plan to leave UK.

This was in the OP: They even dragged us into it, claiming we pressured her into it because we’re desperate to belong and that, as Eastern Europeans, we never actually will.

Was it other kids with E European heritage? Mine grew up in a very diverse part of London and there was a bit of ‘tribalism’ that happens with kids who want other people from their ethnic group to behave a certain way.
Nasty small minded behaviour. I am sorry they tried to bring her down. Hope she has a good friendship group to support and celebrate her. Teenagers can be so awful when their insecurities come out in attacks on other people.

It’s not ‘just’ bullying or jealousy. That is underplaying it. It’s a racially aggravated offence (hate crime).

Of course your daughter doesn’t want you to go to the school. But what about the next person it happens to, and the next, and the next?

It should probably be reported to the police.

My dd had to pull out of DofE gold due to her eating disorder. It’s not for the faint hearted and completing the award has equipped your dd with many problem solving skills and shows real resilience and dedication. Your dd is really set up to cope with a lot of situations that those jealous kids won’t be.

Congratulations to your dd. I hope she has a wonderful time at Buckingham Palace.

As for reporting them, I would want to. However, I am aware of what your dd has said, so perhaps let the dust settle this week. I imagine it’s the last day of term today. However, if it continues through social media in the holidays or into next term once back, then I would consider it my parental duty to step in.

If I can give your dd a message, it would be this. She has the advantage of speaking 2 different languages so she’s light years ahead of the average kid. And does she also have a European passport as well? Perhaps she feels othered. However, she’s got so many things going for her so do give her a hug and remind her she will soon be out in the big wide world away from the small mindedness of these kids.

If it's any help tell her you don't even have to be British to do this award. We have it here in New Zealand as we are part of the commonwealth.

They are Little Ingerlanders who will not be as successful in life as your daughter will be. How embarrassing for them.

Well done to your DD. DofE shows perseverance and hard work. Sadly there are always a few jealous people about who don't want to work hard to achieve something special themselves so they snipe at others who do. I hope your DD is proud of her achievement and sees the snipers as jealous losers. Get her a fabulous outfit for going to BP.

How horrible. I have a similar background to your DD, I was born in EE but lived in London most of my life. Every now and then someone says something horrible (or sometimes not even horrible, but just singles me out as 'foreign') and I really hate it. It really stuck with me.

I still remember a uni professor noting that maybe my essay was poor because English was not my first language. LOL. No, I was lazy and wrote it after a night out and submitted it at midnight. I don't know why, but that offended me more than being called lazy.

There is nothing you can do about it, really. I would just explain that bullies will always try to exploit anything they might perceive as different or a weakness. And in years to come, she'll understand those kids probably have a very unhappy home life.

The feeling of otherness will still be there but she has to learn to manage it.

Well done to your daughter. Academic kids often get bullied in schools. The only reason I never was harassed for being a swot was because I once broke the nose of a boy who assaulted me. No one else wanted a bloody nose.

It's popular with youngsters round here, and they're very proud to do it.

Well I never heard this before! How ridiculous. Your DD should be proud of her achievements. Shame on the other students.

@ACynicalDad Without putting a dampener on her achievement, universities often don’t read personal statements at all. They would not know about this. Plus others who might read it , even Oxbridge, discount it as it’s not subject related. However what is learnt from it could be very useful and certainly put it in the PS if relevant. Eg caring for elderly if applying for medicine. But no university will use this award as a deciding factor because it doesn’t meet published admissions criteria and some dc have no access to it or the money to buy what you need.