Is this bullying and what should I do?

[Drywhiteplease]

Dd is 13/yr 8. She's gregarious and has always enjoyed school. Because she seems happy and to have lots of friends I've so far ignored petty fall outs, but since the start of term a particular girl is making her feel really uncomfortable .
This girl was part of DDs friendship group, is very pretty and seems to have a hold over the girls. She can be quite spiteful about other girls running them down to big herself up.
Dd is in a lot of classes with her and she has now turned on dd. She's basically ignoring her, talking over her and making faces behind her back and other girls are joining in. It's just little, subtle nastiness but horrid none the less.
DDs better friends aren't in the same sets as her, so during classes this girl is always there, whereas during break times and lunch dd can find her real friends.
Dd has been asking if she can move sets, saying she's not clever enough to be there, I suspect she wants to move because of this girl.
She doesn't want me to talk to her school, understandably, and because the girl hasn't actually done anything to her. At the moment I'm just encouraging her to get through her classes and focus on her friends at break hoping it will all blow over.

Sorry it's so long......any advice?

I absolutely hated it when my dc's were at school and things like this happened. I never knew whether to ignore it and hoped it would go away or go into school and speak to the form teacher about it. I can understand why your dd doesn't want you to talk to school, but if it is starting to affect her work and she is asking to be moved to a different set, then maybe a quiet word with her form teacher to make her aware of what is going on may be helpful? I'm sorry I have nothing more constructive to say, but hope someone else might join in. Maybe you could repost in Chat as there is a lot more traffic on that.

Thanks crafty I will do.

Year 8 girls are little BITCHES. They are dreadful at ganging up and excluding as part of their very insidious power games. My DD went through this too, the too loud comments - about her name, her clothes, her accent, her schoolwork, anything they could think of to undermine her.

I made an appointment with her Head of Year who took this bullying VERY seriously (because yes, that IS what it is) and dealt with it very well. DD was worried about me doing this ('you'll just make it worse' etc) but it wasnt like that at all. Schools are now very skilled at dealing with this. DD did a school assertiveness course as part of this and that really helped her re-arrange her self-esteem.

DD is now in Year 9, much more confident and has the ability to stand up and tell anyone who gets at her to simply bog off.

Yes mrs bright agree ...both my dds in sixth form now...I'm reading this thread to them and they both remember year 8 as being a really bitchy year amongst the girls ...
Your dd will be learning from this even though it's a horrible time
From what the girls tell me yr 9 onwards, they become more socially mature.
It's good she has real friends to hang out with.
I think a word with the school just so they are aware would be good.

I would go in and say something at school as sometimes staff don't spot what is going on and in my experience it doesn't necessarily improve as they get older. There is a vile Queen Bee in my daughters year (year 10) who has been causing problems with DDs friendship group since year 3!! She is extremely clever and manipulative and is good at twisting things round and acting like she's the victim.

I agree you should mention it to her form tutor. Teenage girls can be total bitches and (working at a senior school and with two teenage DDs of my own) I am often stunned at how disgusting they can be to each other. It is the Queen Bee types who control the others who are so dangerous. It seems the girls will try and keep in with girls like this even though they are bitches because to fall out with them makes life hell. So the Queen Bee gets away with it and becomes even more powerful. Agree with grannyflo also that some are very good at manipulating people, including school staff, and will twist things around to make themselves appear blameless.