Letters

31st of May 2009

From: Angel Garden

Subject: urgent for your attention.

Date: 31 May 2009 1:11:37 pm GMT+12:00

To: Susanne Cole, Mark Thornton

Dear Susanne

With apologies for your weekend (and mine) I must tell you some distressing facts about [R]'s school day on Thursday.

[R] came home that day telling how [...] was accusing her of being a thief, referring to the reason she left Laingholm school as being for stealing, and saying that she had been stealing at the Steiner School too.  [R] did not tell you, because she doesn't really want you to know about it because it was a frightening, distressing episode for her. Because of the stigma attached to stealing, it was also shaming.

Clearly [...] cannot have intuited these hear-says.  The timing is also interesting.

it is wrong that a child should taunt another child, recycling adult gossip about behaviour they know nothing about from another school.  This is bullying and decisive action is necessary to avoid collusion.

The facts of the matter are that [R] was traumatised by what took place at Laingholm and by the inability of the school to acknowledge what was taking place, which is why we removed her.

At the time, we told the school that we would not be following the matter up, as we were happy to leave that school and thought it would be better to save our energy.

We may have to reconsider this however, if it appears that wrong information can come into a different school and be used to hurt [R].  Such taunting also implicates her whole family and our reputation and as such is defamatory, or it would be if it turns out that there is adult involvement.  We will decide what to do when we see what action is taken, but clearly, it is a serious matter.

This family would appreciate it very much that you would give this some urgent consideration and let us know before school starts again on Tuesday exactly what has been done to ensure that [...] desists from further such behaviour, so that [R] cat attend school in safety.

The timing of this incident really only serves to underline the urgent necessity for outside help in order to create a safe school, as this is a whole new direction for [...].

yours

angel and steve