My Story

I have always been different. I knew I was not one of the popular guys, nor was I one of the sporty guys, or the geeky guys. I was me, and I was from a young age rejected by most of my peers. I would like to point out here that there is nothing wrong with being yourself. You are you. Don’t ever try and be someone else, or to just fit in with your peers. In the long run, strength is not who can call someone the worse names, or hit the weakest in the class. Strength is having the ability to overcome adversity, to get up when you are at your lowest, and to come back stronger.  I wish I had told my parents about the victimisation I encountered in primary school when I was in the care of that school. There are a variety of external agencies out there, such as local education authorities, charities and government. I want more victims of bullying to be aware of these agencies and to contact these.

However, here is the thing with any type of bullying. It’s not your problem: it’s the bullies. Bullies are weak themselves. By telling people, a cycle of abuse can be broken. If the adult does not listen, tell another, and demand that your voice is listened to.

Bullies rarely act alone, and the individuals who support bullying (or as I call them the “sheep”) are supporting the bullies behaviour. This is the schools responsibility, as a positive school should encourage students to disable rather than enable bullying. Victims of bullying need to tell adults, who in turn need to press for wider change within the schools ethos towards bullying. This starts with victims of bullying telling those who can help them about their experience, which includes instances of cyber bullying.

The school did not want to know about my bullying. Despite claiming they had an anti-bullying policy, the school was not interested in stopping bullying from occurring. Instead of actively promoting a healthy school environment, all the leadership in the school were concerned about was the reputation of the institution. That said, there were a number of teachers who provided support and help to me.

I should have told more people outside of the school environment at the time. Whilst schools state that you have a responsibility to them to act in a particular way, I would argue that the school has the greater responsibility to you, to protect you. Don’t let any school pretend that bullying does not happen, or even worse, that the bullying is somehow your fault. Demand more is done to. My experiences have made me believe in education, and how the sort of experiences which I went through should never be experienced by anyone. I firmly believe that education is valuable and no-one should disrupt your experience of it. Bullying is wrong, full stop. Tell someone, you are not the first person to be bullied.
What are you waiting for?