Yours, Siobhan

School days are supposed to be the best days of your life. But for over a million children every year, bullying at school is making their life a misery.

With the nation teetering on the edge of another lockdown, World Mental Health Day has never felt so relevant. But the real nightmare for many children is not erratic home-schooling or loo roll shortages, but the bullying culture that still goes unchallenged in schools.

When my daughter Jesse started big school this September, she was having trouble adjusting to being surrounded by big spotty Year 10 youths and having to find her tribe among a new set of girls.

Having seen some of these worrying signs before, mum Jacquie Riley in Stoke-on-trent got in touch to make sure I was asking my daughter the right questions.

She wrote: “Within weeks of starting high school, my 11-year-old daughter Chloe changed from an outgoing, happy teenager to a withdrawn, rude and disrespectful madam.

“Turns out she was being bullied by girls in the year above. It broke my heart and broke my daughter’s spirit.

“My Chloe is now almost 17 and at college, but I nearly lost her, in fact I have lost part of her. Please have a conversation with Jesse just to make sure she is safe.”

Currently studying for five A levels at Stokeon-trent Sixth Form College, Chloe wants to go into politics and become a government adviser – where, let’s face it, they could do with the help.

Today we’re printing this bright, beautiful young woman’s powerful account of what it’s really like when your mum drops you off at big school, full of dreams for the future, and nothing is ever quite the same again.

Email me at siobhan.mcnally@mirror.co.uk or write to Community Corner, PO Box 791, Winchester SO23 3RP.