Naome

Attacked over the summer holidays and then terrified of going back to school

Naome was a victim of such persistent verbal and physical bullying that she was terrified of going to school, but then her mum faced a jail sentence for failing to force her to attend lessons.

At the peak of her terrible ordeal, Naome had to choose whether to go to school and face a torrent of insults, kicks and punches at the hands of her bullies, or stay at home and risk her mum being sent to prison.

Naome, now 16, said: “I would cry myself to sleep some nights knowing that I might have to go back to school the next morning, and that any day they could take me from my mum and put her in prison.  My sister hated the thought of me being in care and mum being in prison.”

Having been subjected to verbal taunts and insults from her ex-best friend and her new group of mates throughout her first year of secondary school, the problem escalated during the summer holidays. One of the bullies telephoned Naome pretending to be her friend, and lured her to a local meeting point. The group of bullies then attacked Naome, beat her up, and took her money, with her ex-best friend landing the final kick.

Naome returned home in tears and the police were called. Although the girls were given warnings, Naome could not return to school in September as she was too afraid to face her bullies.

In an extreme twist, Naome’s mum had received a letter threatening court action for failing to force her daughter to attend lessons, leaving Naome with the awful choice of whether to face her bullies or let her mum face a jail sentence. On her first day back at school, the bullies struck immediately, hitting her in the corridor and during lessons. The girls were given detentions, but Naome was now so terrified of going to school, she felt she couldn’t go back.

Naome’s mum was taken to court, given a warning and a parental tutor for a year. She was warned that if Naome took just one more day off school without a doctor’s note in the next year, she would be back in court and facing more severe punishment.

Naome continued: “My mum tried every single morning to wake me up to go school, but I didn't because I was scared. My mum would sit at the end of her bed crying because she was stressed.”

Faced with the knowledge that her mum could go to jail if she did not attend school, Naome eventually tried to face her demons, but every time she braved a lesson, her bullies would be waiting for her, ready to shout at her or hit her. Naome was so traumatised by her ordeal at the hands of her bullies that she never lasted more than a few days at school. She suffered from extreme stomach pains and her doctor diagnosed depression.

Inevitably, Naome’s mum was summoned to court again, pleading not guilty to keeping her daughter from school. However, this time common sense prevailed and she was cleared of the charges. Naome’s doctor diagnosed a phobia of school for which she has had counselling, and her local education authority discussed her education with her family and she continued her education from home.

Unsurprisingly, Naome’s education has suffered as a result of her bullying experiences, although she has recently just passed two GCSEs and is looking to build on her artistic talents.