Hi there,
Thank you for your letter, it sounds like what’s been happening has been building up for a while now and it’s brilliant that you’re talking about it. Nobody ever has the right to bully you like this, and certainly not to throw things at you on or off the bus.
When you spoke about how it all first started it sounds a lot like you’d been really been hoping that it would settle down. At the same time, when it didn’t, you being willing to ask the office to move buses shows how much you want this to stop.
Bullying is something that’s never okay, especially not at school. Every school has what’s called an anti-bullying policy to help stop bullying from happening. This says what the school is supposed to do to stop bullying, as well as how they can help support you if you are being bullied. Things like this apply, not only to when you’re in school, but when you’re on the way to school and on the way home. It’s important to remember that for people to be able to support you, they need to know what’s happening, like you were able to tell me today.
I can imagine it taking a lot of courage to be able to talk to the office about moving buses, and that it could be even scarier to think about telling them about the reasons you wanted to move. Sometimes, when you’re not feeling okay to talk to a particular person, it can help to think about who you might feel comfortable talking to - somebody who might be able to help you get the support you deserve. Sometimes it can be a teacher you get on with, or it could even be your mum.
Talking to people doesn’t mean that you’re getting others into trouble, and it certainly doesn’t mean that you’re doing anything wrong. What it can give you is a chance to talk about what might help you make the bullying stop, whether it’s by changing buses, talking to the people who have been bullying you, or even talking to your mum about other ways you might be able to get home after school. Sometimes it can be really difficult to be able to talk to people, but it can help to imagine what you might say and what the person you choose to speak to, might say back. It can even help to write it out as a letter, saying everything that’s happening and how you feel.
It might help to talk to an organisation called Cyber Mentors, who can talk to anyone who’s been affected by bullying. There is also lots of information about bullying outside of school in the Explore section of the ChildLine website. It might also be really good to think about talking to a ChildLine counsellor. They’re there to support you no matter what might be happening, and can give you a safe space to talk about it and help you think about what you might like to do next.
Take care,
Sam