Mum says school failed girl who was harassed after bullies shared details

Gemma said bullies shared her daughter's Snapchat handle on adults-only forums

The mother of a girl who was sent sexual messages after bullies shared her details online has said the way her school treated the issue was "absolutely abysmal".

Gemma, whose name has been changed, said the 13-year-old received explicit texts after her Snapchat handle was shared on adults-only forums.

She said the Tameside school did "absolutely nothing" to support her.

The school said it took "safeguarding and bullying very seriously".

Gemma told the Local Democracy Reporting Service that the bullying, which also saw her daughter being ostracised at mealtimes and subjected to offensive name calling and body shaming, started earlier in 2023.

She said it culminated in her daughter's details being shared on adults-only forums without her knowledge and a profile which depicted her as a woman in her 20s being set up.

"One of them was setting sex chats up online in [her] name... and the school didn't care," she said.

"In one day, she had 80 people contacting her."

'Won't even go out'

She said she reported the abuse to Greater Manchester Police and the local MP, but it had left the girl suffering from anxiety and insomnia and led to her being absent from school.

She said despite having letters from her GP outlining issues with "mental health, confidence and energy", the school's leadership refused to accept the reasons for her daughter's absence.

She added that no change of form or timetable was offered to reintegrate her daughter and said one teacher had described the abuse as "petty".

"The school did nothing, absolutely nothing," she said.

She added that her daughter had now moved to a new school.

"It was absolutely abysmal and horrible what she's been through," she said.

"She was a confident 13-year-old popular kid and now she's the total opposite.

"She won't even go out the front door now."

A recent Ofsted inspection of her original school saw a "considerable number of pupils" tell inspectors that they did not feel safe.

A school representative said while they could not comment on individual cases, they took "all reported concerns regarding safeguarding and bullying very seriously".

"Our post-Ofsted action plan has safeguarding as the most important priority and when such incidents are brought to our attention, they are investigated fully by the school," they added.