How to resolve this school incident?

[Just2MoreSeasons]

My dd (13) year 8, was victim to some nasty behaviour. The girl, x, told my dd she hates her, that everyone hates her, and throw her bag around the classroom (enjoying my dd saying please stop my school iPad is in there).

My dd grabbed her bag back off x and then x smacked her in the mouth , yanked her pony tail and laughed.

Apparently this girl has a bit of a following. My dd says she's popular (I imagine the others are just scared of her and want to keep her onside).

Dd told me about it, I emailed school, a whole school day (24 hours) went by without school phoning me and now I've finally got through to school my dd has got cold feet. Wants me to withdraw my complaint as she's so worried about 'everyone' knowing it was my dd that caused x to be in trouble.

What to do?

I think we should stand up to x, show her we won't tolerate that behaviour.
But I do understand it's my dd that has to be at school with this other girl and that she just wants it to go away. My dd hates standing out in any way and has pretty low confidence.

Any words of wisdom please?

DS has been the victim of similar behaviour. If you trust the school, make contact with your DDs head of year. If you don't trust the school, look for a different school.

The boy targeting DS was also at his primary school, so we know how he operates. Most children try to befriend this boy, because it's easier than being his enemy. DS tries to give him a wide berth because he knows what he's like and has no interest in being his friend. This boy therefore deliberately seeks out DS to antagonise him.

We had a quiet word with the school. Rather than them punishing the boy for stuff he had already done, school kept a closer eye on him in the transistors between lessons, during breaks times and during PE. They were able to witness his behaviour and pull him up on it when it happened. They also worked with DS to help him stay safe, putting him in different groups for PE, for example and seating him away from the difficult boy in other lessons.

I think I'd still tell the school and hopefully like queen says, they can keep an eye on her.