Testimonial From the 1980s

Just wanted to say good on you for publicising this issue. When I read the article it brought back memories of when my son went to the Rudolf Steiner kindy for a while in the late 80s and endured months of physical and 'mental' bullying. Another parent actually alerted me to what was going on - it was the last thing I had expected to happen at a school like that, especially with a small group of maybe 12 children and the kindy teacher in the immediate vicinity at all times.

To cut a long story short I pulled my son out when I saw for myself what was occurring. When I later spoke with the teacher it transpired she had been very aware of the bullying all that time, but I was dismissed, somewhat derisively, with "it's just six-year-old stuff" and "he needs to be more confident then he won't be picked on" (just how allowing a kid to be tormented and bullied is going to make them more confident escapes me)

I don't want to write volumes, so suffice it to say a number of unpleasant and disturbing events occurred while my son was there. It had a significant impact on him going forward. I do hope your daughter managed to survive her torment without too much long-term effect.

I’d be surprised if my son (and your daughter) were the only ones to experience this.  In fact I remember when my son was going, there was  another little boy he was friends with who seldom attended because of bullying.