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Adult - Life Before During and After Bullying
School Life was never one of my favourite things in my world I was never popular or well liked to this day I still don’t know why? But one thing I do know is school was hell for me with a capital H. In the September of 1998 I started a senior school called Mortimer Comprehensive School it was to become the worst 5 years of my life most people say school is the best time of your life and you’ll miss it when you leave but to be quite honest I’ve never missed one day not one day of that dreaded place I like to call simply Hellhole, when that day came in the May of 2003 I wanted to scream “I’d made it, I Survived” I’m 20 now well almost 21 and that time seems like it happened to someone else but I know the truth and I want to expose Mortimer School for the type of place it is, this is for all the people that have been or being bullied stay strong and fight every step of the way you will ALWAYS have the last laugh to the people that bully you are cowards and one day you will become the victim when that time comes you’ll be asking the question we do, why?
In year 6 of my primary school Lord Blyton I was one of two people that were destined to grace the corridors of Hellhole; I remember the day my future head of year came to visit her name was Mrs Burland she seemed nice to me but I wasn’t convinced we sat on the carpet in Mrs Johnston’s class she talked about the school and showed us things but I longed to go to the place all my friends were going, Brinkburn but Mam said because my brothers went there I had to I can’t say I was best pleased and the pleas of a 10 year old fell on deaf ears I know my Mam was doing what she thought was best but was it really the right choice?
The day finally came when I started Hellhole I so nervous my legs were like jelly I could hardly get onto the 11A the tiny school bus, when we got there we were ushered into a huge hall with what had I thought looked like cinema seats except these were cold blue plastic ones instead of comfy material ones, this hall was different from my old one it was empty of any sort of colours no work from other kids only cold beige coloured breeze blocks adorned the walls. When we were all seated our new headmaster greeted us he was called Mr Snowdon he talked for so long I almost fell asleep, we were assigned to our tutorial classes mine was 7KA and my tutorial teacher was Mr Reynolds he was fat old, and was so smelly I felt like my nostrils were on fire constantly, his classroom was small and dingy and again it was devoid of any sort of work or colour. The first couple of months were fine I settled in fine and made what I thought were friends, but just after Christmas that all changed two girls I though were my friends started ganging up on me being nasty, eventually they turned all my other friends against me with their lies and wicked tongues, things got so bad I went to school by myself, went home by myself but worst of all I spent breaks and dinnertimes alone mostly I sat in the dinner hall with my packed lunch or ventured to the park to sit on the swings, I felt isolated and I had no one to turn to help me. These girls did stick up for me once but the two bully’s went to the teachers and made it out like they were the victim I was called into the office and being afraid of being punished I told them the girls names they never helped me ever again.
It wasn’t just the kids that were the problem teachers were horrible too they belittled students and treated us like we were no better than the rats crawling from the gutter. I had my first incident with a PE teacher named Mrs Kelly I went to pick up my PE kit and when she turned around to get it I went to sit down without thinking big mistake when she turned around again she exploded “How dare you sit down on one of our chairs without permission” I felt no bigger than a cricket and after mumbling an apology I collected my kit and scurried from the room leaving the angry face of Mrs Kelly behind me. After months of torture it was finally decided that I was to be moved class and half and I ended up in 7WD the tutorial class of the glass eyed Mrs Wallace, I was happy there for a little while even though I wasn’t the stunner the boys of the class were expecting in fact I was far from that with my frizzy hair and jam jar glasses complete with budgie’s, The teachers still didn’t get any better we were in Mr Stephenson’s science class once and I cannot remember why but he called one the boys a “Fat tub of lard” we were all shocked but what could we do we were only 11 years old teachers had control and they stuck together.
Year 8 didn’t get any better even my so called friends picked on me and we argued constantly, it was too get even harder when my Granda fell ill and died just before I was due to finish school for the summer holidays, I remember crying in tutorial and wanting to go home Mrs Wallace was empathetic but she persuaded me to stay, too be honest I cannot remember much of what happened in this year but I do remember a boy tripping me up on a No school uniform day in front of the entire school and me splitting my new tracksuit pants I remember crying and feeling humiliated but that was a feeling I was well used too.
Year 9 was a hard year I was constantly picked on and started making up excuses not to go to school pretending to be ill just so I didn’t have to walk the corridors of Hellhole alone and lost. In English one day it was just before end of class a boy behind me ripped up his detention slip and stuck in down the back of my top I was frozen and I heard them behind me saying they cannot wait till I stud up so everybody could laugh at me as you thought I didn’t dare stand up which the teachers helper thought was strange because everyone else in the class was, she asked what was wrong and I told her, the teacher let everyone go at that point and the helper got the paper from my back I was again humiliated and I hope they had a good laugh on the way home because I didn’t. Just before summer holidays again seems to be making a pattern I had what I was to find out to be my first epileptic fit it was a boiling hot day and we were all in Home Economics, it was a free lesson and we were all talking and laughing the next thing I knew I was lying on the floor with a paramedic stuck in my face to call it frightening was an understatement, I heard later on the boys were laughing at me but they stopped laughing when I didn’t get back up my face was in a right state it had almost looked like I been beaten up maybe that would of been easier. As year 9 came to a close and I got ready to start my GCSE’s I had another seizure this time at home which was a small consolation and it was decided I was an epileptic and needed medication.
Year 10 was juggled between Bullying, hospital visits and my GCSE’s the latter taking a massive backseat in my life. I remember going to the head of year once and she getting me and the bully in the same room and “talking” needless to say I was getting threats from the bully luckily they weren’t carried but I thought it was poor judgement on the head of years part. Things got so bad I eventually just refused to go back to school that’s when I was assigned a mentor her name was Gail and she was brilliant the best thing to happen to me in all my school years, she helped me get back on track with my school work, my confidence and made me realise that school could be fun with the right people. I also forgot to mention I was made a prefect and policed the corridors on a break and dinner time not very well might I add as some people just don’t take no for an answer.
Year 11 was a fairly alright year, doubled with Gail my mentor and the fact that this was the very last year ever I was a lot more positive and happy although my GCSE’s took a heavy toll as I only managed to get a C in one subject. I left school with not an ounce of sadness actually it was more a feeling of relief that I’d survived what were the hardest times of my life and because of these 5 torturous years I feel ready to tackle just about everything life has to throw at me, I have had the last laugh as I went to college got my qualifications 2 GNVQ’s, 3 A levels, and finally onto my degree in Fashion, The bully’s well I never saw them at college I see them round town now and they can’t even look me in the eye but I walk past them with my head held high and I think to myself that mousy person from school is long gone, I’m a stronger person now and Hellhole is now buried deep in my past where it’ll stay.
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