How do you handle this is in a vulnerable 12 year old girl :(

Oh ok private.

Does the EHCP name the school ie the fees are paid by the state ? Or are you paying? If you are paying then tbh I’d be looking into other options asap. (I know they will demand a term’s fees in lieu of notice but I’d be telling them they can whistle for that, since you are leaving due to their lack of care for a child with additional needs who they knew is being bullied. They won’t want that getting around.)

It’s not LPS by any chance? Hope not.

They may not reply, but you can probably find their complaints procedure on their website and start the process of the formal complaint. That might evoke a response (and if it doesn't you're no worse off).

If other local schools haven't broken up yet, you can ring to find out if anyone has spaces in her year group (and go on their waiting lists if need be) which might inform your planning.

Re your dd, her distress might be reduced if you can give her what certainty you can - so help her for plan what to do if she has no one to sit with (bring a book to read maybe?). And reassure her that her feelings are valid and you're on her side, but it will feel more ok once she's used to it.

Gosh I’m so sorry

Why are there only two other girls in her form? That sounds odd for a start, how big is the form and is it a very boy heavy year?

Were the kids given any chance to input on who they wanted to be with?

Honestly it’s going to be tricky to fix because it won’t be fixable by just moving her - since her friends are in same class as bully. They’d have to either move a friend in with her or swap her with the bully. What a mess.

Is she in touch with friends via phone?

Just read your updates - the school sounds awful in how it has communicated with you. I hope that whatever decisions you make about changing school you can have a good summer break with your daughter x

Your post took me back to when I was 12 with CP and in a mainstream school. I was badly bullied and hit by a gang of girls who also frequently kicked me.

My mother intervened via the school and it didn't really solve the problem as I was always going to be a target with CP - not helped by being teachers pet for being too studious.

The thing I found most difficult was my mother's level of distress about the bullying - it added to my sense of failure.

So having been in your daughter's position, I would try to encourage you to help her resilience and to encourage positivity about the move as it sounds as if you can't stop it given the timing of the email - can you suggest extra out of school activities she can do with her current friends and hope that the school has chosen the new class for a reason and will ask a child in the class to befriend your daughter.

Being different sucks but my school experience taught me that you have to get on with it as bad behaviour follows you whatever school or classroom you are in. So distressed as you are, my advice is to try and build resilience. Your daughter may need it for things like PE class - looking back on my education it is that which haunts me more than the bullying .

That doesn't mean they aren't reading the emails that come in.

Can you go back to the LA and say that you rescind that decision based on the school changing the goalposts? And CC the school in

Are there any other schools that might be an option?

It's really not good enough. They aren't meeting her needs, either regarding the transition or regarding her social needs.

I also have an autistic dd who needs clear information before transitions (and who has an acute sense of justice) so I can imagine how distressed she must be.

The Senior Management will still be working in the holiday, so you can still email.

Well, I'd be emailing now and not just accepting it. Releasing that info on the last day is beyond shit. I'd want a meeting at the earliest opportunity. That's a horrible thing to do to a victim of bullying, and I'd want an explanation.

For your dd, I'd try to reframe it as her being away from the bully and she'll be able to see her friends during breaks.