Lara Primary School mum ‘scared’ for her daughter after alleged bullying

A Lara mum says she is scared to send her eight-year-old daughter to school, where she is allegedly being verbally and physically tormented by bulliesweekly.

This girl’s mum alleges her daughter is being severely bullied at Lara Primary School. Picture: Brad Fleet

A Lara mum says she is scared to send her eight-year-old daughter to school, where she is allegedly being verbally and physically tormented by bulliesweekly.

Mum of four Shanae, who did not want her surname published, said her daughter, who is in year two at Lara Primary School, had experienced bullying that began with friendship isolation at the start of the year, but had since escalated into name calling, intimidation and physical assault.

“I’m at my wit’s end,” Shanae said.

She said she noticed a change in her daughter, who had become “completely different”.

“She experiences fear when coming to school and feels unsafe even walking from the car to her classroom,” Shanae said.

“This year, she has faced harassment, isolation, physical harm, threats, and intimidation from another child in her class, as well as involvement from older students.

“It is mentally and emotionally impacting her significantly.”

Shanae said the girl who had allegedly bullied her daughter had also encouraged others to begin name-calling, particularly older girls in grade six.

Shanae said approaching the school for support had not helped resolve the issue.

“They just kept saying (my daughter) needed to be resilient,” she said.

“They initiated a friendship group with a support person coming in to teach them to be friends, but we did request that this stop because by the end of term three things had escalated.”

Lara Primary School

Lara Primary School principal Toni Scott said the school treated all allegations of bullying seriously and addressed all incidents with appropriate and proportionate consequences.

“A range of actions and supports are in place and will continue to be reviewed with the families involved,” Ms Scott said.

Shanae said despite having a safety plan in place, the bullying had worsened, with a girl in an older year level suspended over approaching her daughter in the bathroom to verbally threaten her.

She said last week another student ran up to her daughter while she was leaving school and kicked her in the back.

“It’s getting physical, I’m scared she’s not safe,” Shanae said.

The mother said a grade six girl was suspended for name calling, but there had been no consequences for her daughter’s peer who had asked the older girl to engage in the bullying.

“The girl in my daughter’s class received no consequence for initiating that,” she said.

“I don’t think it was adequate.”

The parent said despite her repeated requests for school assistance in ensuring her daughter’s safety at school and enforcing appropriate consequences for the bullying, she felt adequate measures had not been taken.

“They’re not taking it seriously,” she said.

“(She) doesn’t want to move from the school because she does have good school friends, but is she going to keep facing this?”

Shanae said a lot of people did not take childhood bullying seriously enough due to thinking “they’re just kids”.

A Department of Education spokesman said any form of bullying or harassment, whether in person or online, would not be tolerated in Victorian schools.

“Lara Primary School has put in place actions to address behaviour and will continue to ensure that all students are safe and supported,” he said.

Originally published as Lara Primary School mum ‘scared’ for her daughter after alleged bullying