Your child is worth more than your friends... and fine friends they turned out to be! I know, though, how excruciatingly hard it is to tell someone you know and like 'it's YOUR child who is the problem for the others....' (in fact, so hard, I never have - just moaned about her and her children to other mums!)

I am so glad you took your child out (NO EXCUSE for the school to ignore this!) and she is happy now. One note of caution.

When she goes to secondary school, is she going to encounter the children who bullied her again??? If there is another option for sec. school you may want to take it.

If not, then do you best to ensrue that she has a good circle of friends from her current school (I take it she is Year 6 and leaving at the end of the term??), both those who are going to her secondary school, and some who aren't, and take extra pains to cultivate and maintain those friendships now and during the summer hols.

That means that when she gets to sec school she will have those good friends to socialise with, and feel secure with, even if the bullies from her old school are there too. Big school has the advantage of size! Because they are so, so much larger than primary schools, it's much easier for children to 'lose' bullies and so on, and if she has a circle of secure friends to be with, she will be less likely tobe picked on anyway, plus she will feel more confident and happy too. She may also find (I hope!) that seeing her old tormentors second time around may let her see them this time around as weak and pathetic, not the fearsome tormentors she once saw them as. Also, they, too, will be new to the big school, and less bullish and confident themselves!

If she can keep some friends who are going to a different secondary school, that may be a good 'back up' plus put things in perspective for her. Some bullied children can cope with a bad school providing they have a nice non-school life. For that reason, it could be a good idea to get her involved in non-school social groups, eg, provided via things like swimming clubs, ballet, etc, so she is mixing with children out of her school environment.

Finally, DO DO let the big school she is going to (assuming it's the one where the bullies are going) know what has happened. There will be a head of Year 7 who will have overall charge of the welfare of the new children, and if you let them know before hand, preferably meeting with them if possible this term, to plot them in. (They'll also probably be glad to know who the bullies are - as the bullies will be a problem to him too!). It could well be that, with that knowledge, he can actively avoid having your daughter put in a class with a 'known tormentor', which would help. That may not be possible, timetalbe wise etc, but it's worth asking.

All the very best, and I think you did totally the right thing. Childhood should never be ruined by bullies, and your daughter's happiness is worth everything.

Julie.