Shocking statistics re bullying in schools.

[inhindsight]

Latest figures re bullying in schools. Sadly, it makes shocking reading!
My daughter, now 23 was bullied terribly throughout her school life and I feel so ashamed I let her go through all that
No-one ever told me that I didnt have to send her to school. No-one ever mentioned home education or how rewarding it can be! I know Home-ed is not for every family, but it would have been nice to be given the choice and for some families whose children are suffering in school, it is a life-line.
Bullying exists in our schools and things are no better now than when I was a child..indeed the evidence suggests things are even worse now!
A recent Kidscape survey revealed that out of 1200 severly bullied kids,
half had attempted suicide.
86% said the school did not act.
84% said the child was too "sensitive"
When I read those figures it's like deja-vue
16 childrn are successful in their attempt at suicide each year.

Below is the article, released by AHed, a national Home-ed group committed to the rights of children and families.


MEDIA INFORMATION FROM ACTION FOR HOME EDUCATION (AHEd)(X-Posted)

For immediate release, Wednesday 19 November 2008

ANTI BULLYING WEEK - TIME TO REMIND CHILDREN THAT THEY DON'T HAVE TO ENDURE
BULLYING IN SCHOOL, says AHEd

National home education group Action for Home Education [1] today accused
authorities of immorality in creating endless anti bullying projects whilst
hiding from children and parents their right to walk away from bullies.

Commenting on Anti Bullying Week, AHEd Chair Barbara Stark said: "AHEd was
formed to take action where needed to support and promote the right to educate
one's children without using schools. If any child has a right to know that they
have no legal obligation to be educated in a school, it is the child bullied in
school. Our members are keen to ensure that in anti bullying week this message
is shared with these children."

AHEd have previously run campaigns highlighting the tragic extent of bullying in
schools. Last year members lobbied MPs and the Minister responsible for
education to remind them that 450,000 children were bullied in school EACH WEEK
last year [2] and at least 16 children are successful in committing suicide each
year as a result of school bullying. [3] A worrying recent survey by Kidscape
shows that half of bullied children in schools will contemplate or attempt
suicide. [4]

AHEd member Clare Murton asks, "How many bullied children and their parents have
been told by the school or the LA that it is a legal and rewarding choice to
educate a child at home?"

Home educating parent and AHEd member Pete Darby, asks, "If a friend of yours
was consistently bullied at work, fearful of turning up each morning, and
complaints to the management did little or nothing, wouldn't you tell your
friend to leave their job before it was too late? Yet children are constantly
being told that they must put up with it, or make another report to the teacher.
You would tell an adult to first get out of the toxic situation: why not show as
much concern to children?"

"No adult," says Barbara "is expected to tolerate the behaviour that bullied
children are forced to put up with without recourse to relief or justice." Yet,
while AHEd members continue to hear from families whose children are bullied in
schools, they are sick of having to listen to the old cliché that to take a
child out of school because of bullying is over-protective and won't help a
child to cope in the "real world" where bullying happens and life is tough.

In practice they find that the opposite is true; their children when taken
seriously, offered a reprieve from the hatred they are being subjected to and
educated in an environment of their choosing, develop strong self esteem, learn
more effectively and go on to experience much better working relationships as
adults.

AHEd members have one simple message to promote in Anti Bullying Week -

BULLIED AT SCHOOL? TRY HOME EDUCATION - IT IS YOUR RIGHT - AND YOUR LIFELINE.




[1] ahed.pbwiki.com/About-AHEd

(2)www.guardian.co.uk/education/mortarboard/2007/mar /27/howcanschoolsredu<br /> cebullyin

"Each week 450,000 children are bullied in school. Another 500,000 are taunted
by their peer group in the community. And more than one in five children will
turn to suicide as a way out of being severely bullied" writes Debbie Andalo. "
It is an image that MPs highlight in their report into bullying in school
published in March 2007. The report by the Commons Education and Skills Select
Committee claims up to 20% of young people experience some kind of general
bullying. But this can be as high as 50% among pupils in secondary schools who
are attracted to the same sex and find themselves at the receiving end of
homophobic taunts. The incidence of bullying is also substantiated by figures
from the child support charity ChildLine, which said it received 37,000 calls
from young people who were bullied between 2005 and 2006 - a 12% rise compared
with the previous year.

(3). At least 16 children commit suicide each year as a result of school
bullying: Neil Marr and Tim Field's book "Bullycide: death at playtime" reveals
the hidden epidemic of suicide caused by bullying and harassment.

(4) www.communitynewswire.press.net/article.jsp?id=5248914

END

[mummyloveslucy]

It is very harrowing reading. I was badly bullied at school and I'm now terrified of my daughter going to school.
At least I know that I can home educate her, and that's what I'll do without question if she becomes unhappy at school.