I was bullied at school, admits First Minister Nicola Sturgeon

Nicola Sturgeon opened up about her experience of childhood bullying at a special FMQs for Scotland's Year of Young People. Picture: John Devlin

She made the disclosure when quizzed by youngsters at a special First Minister’s questions for Scotland’s Year of Young People.

The First Minister’s Question Time Next Generation event, broadcast on STV, saw the First Minister asked if she had experienced bullying.

She replied: “I went through periods at school of bullying. I wouldn’t say it ever got to a really serious level that made me unable to go to school or scared to go to school.

“But I had experiences at primary school where it certainly was sufficient at one stage to involve a teacher.

“So I think many people will have those experiences and I think what’s good is to be able to be open about them and to be able to come forward about them.

“And part of what we need to do around all of these issues that young people face - often issues that can impact on mental well-being - is create an environment where people don’t feel they have to keep these things to themselves and they can come forward and get help and talk about these things.

“If they do that they don’t only help themselves, they help other people as well.”

Ms Sturgeon attended Dreghorn Primary in her home town of Irvine in the late 1970s and early 1980s before moving to Greenwood Academy.

She also said that she had considered becoming a children’s author, hinting that she may return to her ambition.

The First Minister claimed that the new Irn Bru recipe tasted the same as the old one, telling the audience: “you can’t taste the difference”.

Asked about which celebrity reality TV programme she’d most like to appear in, the First Minister said she’d be keen to appear on Dancing on Ice, and joked that maybe she could do this while retaining her duties as head of the Scottish Government.

Asked what her favourite animal was, she answered cats before admitting she was a “little bit scared of dogs”.

“My one fear is of dogs,” she confessed.