Terrible bullying- can I remove dd from her private school- right before her GCSEs?

Have you got the schools bullying policy?

This school is failing your child and no doubt other children. How awful. Can you report them to the independent schools inspectorate whatever it's called.

What are the school doing now? Is there a safe place your daughter can go inbetween and out of lessons. Obvious their reputation being independent will be of paramount interest so they dont lose potential income and as often happens things are brushed under the carpet particularly if the culprit(s) are academically or in some other way gifted.

Independents are very good at preparing youngsters for their GCSE's as they have so much more time, having less pupils and more resources and so you need to think carefully between you about removing ... could she work from home and submit her work to school and come in for individual tutorials?

Does the school have a mini psychopath/sociopath in their midst? What bullying work are they doing to discuss issues and why bullies bully to try and snap them out of it and stop their behaviour.

Your daughter only has to tolerate these dreadful youngsters for another 4 months so hopefully the school can put something in place for you and then she can move to somewhere else or they seem to think they are moving on.

Much love to you, your DD. PS: She is very resilient and courageous. Things to build self esteem:
Spontaneous picnics with you and she when the weather gets better.
Spa days
Karma will be visited on the others at some point
Dropping pebbles into the sea or river and saying your problems and hopes
Lots of love and luck. You will survive this. And think about how those others are going to run into trouble pretty soon in the next few years.

This is typical of the private sector as I see it a lot myself. It’s all about the school fees

Untrue. It's typical of a bad school which doesn't care about its pupils' wellbeing. It has nothing to do with private/state.

If you’d like to do as Georgina says then do so! You’re within your rights to do so and that’d make the school sit up and listen. I vote do it

Sorry, don’t know what homeschool they used, and dc is now applying for top universities - Durham, Etc.

I presume that she has nearly finished her syllabuses at school, so between now and May, it’s a matter of revision, revision, revision.

Maybe get the revision books and workbooks from CRC and get her to work through those. Speak to the six Gp form colleges, and see what they actually need to get in to do the courses she want to do. Ie. If you only need five GCSEs, don’t do ten. Maybe drop a couple.

Also, consider tutors for the weaker subjects, or those you are not confident with.

There’s bound to be a home-school network in your area. Ask around on local Facebook sites. You may find a mum who can teach French for example, and get ideas what to do.

Do what Georgia has said! There is nothing you have to lose at this point. And going there may even help your daughter's self esteem.

Oh my goodness. I was reading this getting really sad but with your latest update I'm angry. Please take her out and write a stern letter with everything that's happened. How can she get away with it in front of teachers. I would be calling the police and taking legal action and trying to get some fees back.
I also agree that this level of bullying will surely have an impact on her grades and I would see how she does in her exams. If badly, than I'd see if retaking y11 can be arranged.
Also, don't blame yourself. You could not have imagined it would go on like this and it's perfectly normal to think that once someone has been expelled it'll stop. She obviously scares the vast majority of pupils so I'm really curious why she's still there.
I'm so sorry to you both.

Before the school reports on its "investigation" pull her out and go straight to the police and file criminal charges. Point out that the school has done nothing to safeguard your daughter. Then see a lawyer about a civil suit against individual board members and school administrators. Threat of being named a party to the suit might make them punish the bully. Or they might agree to waive your fees and let you leave.

Absolutely pull her out. I wouldn't worry about what she will miss, what she will miss is daily stress and anxiety which is far more likely to harm achievement. How can she possibly focus when she is contending with this each day.

You can ask the school for revision material or look online I am sure there will be plenty of prep books. You could look at getting a tutor for some extra support if needed.

At the end of the day your daughter's mental health is worth far more than an A grade.

I would consider writing to the school to outline what they need to do in order to prevent you taking legal action. Under the Health and Safety at Work act, organisations have the same duty to non-employees as they do emplyees and they are not protecting your DD sufficiently.

Tell them you want her to have over the phone tutorials with each subject on a weekly basis, work set, and her to be able to come in to sit each exam. See what they say.

Absolutely outrageous.

Look at your home insurance policy and see if you have access to legal advice.
I did this and I am so glad I did.

God this is disgraceful behaviour. It's ridiculous the school aren't taking a harder line with this.
I hope your poor dd gets through this. I would absolutely pull her out, but if also be doing whatever I needed to to make other people aware. Twitter is very good for this, or school Facebook page.

Pull her out. Not all private schools are good. If she is reasonably bright and has access to text books and internet she can pass GCSEs.
Then look for a good state sixth form college.

That’s harassment. It’s passed the bullying stage. If your dd has recorded these incidents and so have the school, I’d be going to the police.
I’m not surprised the school has been ineffectual at sorting this. This is typical of the private sector as I see it a lot myself. It’s all about the school fees 🙄
The school have failed to safeguard your dd and I’d be holding back from paying the fees once you’ve removed her.
The school won’t like the police being involved. Not one bit.

Agree with the poster upthread about revision - they will shortly be on study leave anyway presumably, or would be in a non-boarding environment so take her home, organise her revision and then ask for her to be in the SEN room on exam days and obviously take her to the room yourself to minimise bully interaction.

Go get your girl, she’s close enough to GCSE’s that you can get a tutor at home for the rest of term or she sits them next year. Either way it’ll all be okay in the end, but go and get her ❤️

So upsetting to hear about your poor dd and really angry to hear that the school is basically not doing anything and seems to be trivialising this. Is there anyway you could subtly suggest that if your dd is not immediately provided with safe surroundings and the bully is not put in her place then you might go public with this? Bad press is an indy schools worse nightmare and even on social media if they thought they were getting a bad rep then they might step up their protection and action against this awful bully.

Best of luck with what you decide but I agree with previous posters, if you can't guarantee safety of your child then you need to remove her and blast this all over the net to warn other families that this school tolerates bullies.

So I suspect they’ve paid the full amount for 3 years ago which enters you into a different contract with the school I believe

It doesn't.

So it may be the school is worried they would threaten to withdraw their children which would result in the loss of 3 lots of fees rather than 1

IM (extensive) E of independent schools, they do worry about this if they are smaller schools with lower margins. However, this worry tends to be outweighed by the worry of losing several more pupils as a result of being known to have failed to stamp on bullying.

It is shameful that your DD's school has done nothing about this. Girls can be particularly good at bullying 'under the radar', and schools ought to be aware of the ways this can happen. Is it a girls' school? Not that it makes any difference per se - just wondering.

Have you discussed this with other parents? Schools become very jumpy about stories being circulated which harm their reputation. One close to where I live has been known to try to take people to court for telling the truth about them spreading rumours.

I'm generally pretty peaceful and disinclined to rock the boat - but I would be very tempted to take your DD out, even at this stage (same age and stage as my DC2). I would also explain why, to the school. I would also refuse to pay for the summer term, on the grounds that they are not fulfilling part of their contract with you, namely to keep your daughter safe.

Have you taken it up with the governing body?

You and your Dd were trying your best not let them win which is understandable but I think it has come to the point of no return, surely it is better for your dd to do her exams elsewhere than doing them under the stress of being harrased and harmed by this horrible cruel girl.

She's y11. She doesn't need home schooling (as in teaching) at this point, she needs guided revision. I would expect her to have finished the syllabus in nearly everything (you would need to confirm this though).

So, things to think about:

Can she just stay home but turn up for the exams at current school?

This would be easiest logistically, but there may be concerns with bumping into the bully. Would they be willing to put your DD in separate rooms (maybe with children with various SEN) so she could be separate, and allow for different arrival/departure times to miss seeing the other pupils.
Would the school send home revision material, and mark stuff for you if you dropped it off & collected it?
You could argue for this kind of approach in exchange for you 'going quietly'.

If you pull her out and have to find a separate exam centre

• where could this be (contact local FE colleges, local schools etc) to see where she could sit as an 'external candidate'.
• how would this work for any exams with any practicals / coursework (including the science practicals which though not examined have to be signed off as having been done, and also the speaking & listening part of English Language)

I'd be looking at
either the school supports you with exams at school & revision material
or lets her leave without next terms fees being payable
(or you feel under no obligation to them and might decide to take further action)

No one would be pulling their DC out of a school at this point in y11 without serious cause. The school should show duty of care to you.