Edinburgh parent appalled by the level of bullying at her son's school Castlebrae Community High
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Single mother Lynn Chalmers, 53, from Niddrie, who is “basically housebound” due to her disability, has been left worried about her S2 son’s well-being.
She claims he has been bullied constantly since he started at Castlebrae Community High School, with no action taken by the school to address the issues raised.
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Hide AdThings came to a head last week when Lynn claims a fellow pupil threatened to slit her son’s throat. Lynn attended the school and claimed that that the issue was “swept under the carpet”.
She said: “This has been a problem for two years, since my boy started there, he is in S2 now. This one boy has approached my son four times now and this latest time he gave the finger across the throat sign to indicate he was going to slit his throat.
“I put in a formal complaint last Friday afternoon and the education department had contacted the school by Monday afternoon.
“My son has been bullied for two years now. There seems to be a gang of bullies in the school and they constantly get away with it.
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Hide Ad“The new headmaster has only been in there for four weeks, so I will give him time. However, they had a meeting about my son getting threatened and it was just “don’t do that again”, and it was swept under the carpet.
“I’m just at the end of my tether, the public needs to know this is going on. I have started a ‘Say No To Bullying’ Facebook page, trying to get locals involved and other parents of pupils at the school, I have asked them to stand with me to protect our kids.”
Lynn revealed the impact the alleged bullying has had on her son.
She said: “My boy will not go out of the house as he is far too scared. He goes to school early to avoid the bullies and he has permission to leave early to avoid the bullies.
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Hide Ad“He doesn’t go out at break or anything, he goes into safe spaces. This has been since he was sitting in the canteen once minding his own business when a boy attacked him, he still has a mark on his face.
“The police have been useless as well. The officer who got involved with this assault had a terrible attitude. I feel the office assigned to the school from Craigmillar doesn’t do much.
“He phoned me last Monday about the throat slit threat and he said he would have words with the boy so it wouldn’t happen again.
“I was also told by the school that my son would be chaperoned, but he had to lock himself in the toilets as he was not being chaperoned. They let him down again. I had to phone the school to find out what is going on.”
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Lynn had planned to stage a protest outside the school with her son, but a meeting with the school’s new headteacher brought that plan to an end. However, Lynn revealed she is still worried what could happen to her son at Castlebrae High.
She said: “I went to the school on Monday to protest, so I went into the office to tell them my son wouldn’t be in as we were going to protest outside. We had banners with us.
“But the new headteacher came and spoke to me for an hour. He told me he had been contacted by the head of Education Scotland about my complaint. That was great, as I was told it could take six weeks, so it was a result in a way.
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Hide Ad“My son went back in today and the headteacher met him when he got to school. This is a new thing that they say they will keep doing to make me feel better about my boy going to that school.
“But I’m still majorly on edge. In case something else happens. As I don’t trust the school to keep the bullies away from him.
“I’m not just shouting for my boy, I’m shouting for all the kids. I don’t know what the kids are carrying in their bags, they are not checked. So I am worried something awful happens.
“There are also good kids getting into bullying so they don’t get bullied, it’s an epidemic at that school. I hope by shouting about this it will stop bullying at the school. There have been terrible incidents down south and I hope it never happens here.”
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Hide AdCouncillor Joan Griffiths, Education, Children and Families Convener said: “Any allegation of bullying in our schools is taken seriously and we will take appropriate action against any pupil who behaves inappropriately.
“We work pro-actively to prevent and respond to bullying and prejudice, where it occurs. This includes listening to and reassuring a child or young person who has experienced bullying and introducing support measures if required.
“We work with individuals who have bullied others to reinforce the message that bullying and prejudice is not acceptable.”
Police Scotland declined the opportunity to comment on this story.
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