‘AT 11, I WAS MADE TO FEEL LIFE WASN’T WORTH LIVING’

“I am now almost 17 but I still bear the scars left by school bullies,” writes Chloe Riley. This is her 11-year-old self’s personal account of the mental anguish suffered at their hands…

Picture this: An 11-year-old girl on the way to big school down a route she had walked with her mum at least three times over the summer holidays.

Hair hanging down to her chin separated fiercely in the middle, eyebrows growing carefree and lots of unappealing spots. I was amazing and intelligent, and in my mother’s opinion “beautiful”.

Only a handful of kids from my primary school were going to the same high school and unfortunately my single best friend was not one of them. I was s going in alone.

Now imagine going g to a place, a special building ing that you are required d to go to every single day y and being stuck with people ple that discriminate against ainst you for no reason at all.

Kids who make you u dread waking up every day. Kids who make you beg your our mum to stay at home. e. Kids who poison you with suicidal thoughts ts and tell you to drink bleach, set fire to yourself, jump off a cliff…

In Year 7 I earned an array of nicknames – TP (Teacher’s Pet), Eyebrows, Slug, Dot to Dot, Nerd.

One girl even tried to start a fight with me because of the way my blazer was buttoned. Kids are suffering mental health issues but if you look deeper and see some of the horrendous things that they are faced with on a daily basis, you wouldn’t wonder at all. Racism, sexism and homophobia are rife in the place where we should be in a happy environment, treating one another equally. Teachers never seem to be able to do anything about it. They don’t understand that directly confronting the bully is just going to make them laugh with their mates.

They don’t understand that sitting me next to the kid who is making m my life a misery is not “going to s set a good example and calm him down”, it’s just going to make it easier for him to torment me me.

I was made to feel at 11 years old that my life was w not worth living and I was genuinely considering en ending it all.

I am still sti left with the menta mental scars of dread every time I see a new spot or I haven’t had my e eyebrows waxed. I sta stand looking in a mirr mirror measuring my waist waist, hating the way I look. Children should not be left like this.