A Letter to My Head of Year 7

Dear Mr. Perks,

I am writing to you because I have a few things I need you to know. I never thought I would have the courage to do this, but finally, I am strong enough to stand up to you.

What was meant to be one of the most exciting experiences of my life ended up being a living nightmare, and that was all down to you. You were the one person who was meant to be on my side and make me feel safe. I was terrified of being bullied by other students, but I never once thought that I would be bullied by my head of year. That is something that has stuck with me for the past 14 years. You are the reason I struggle with my confidence, you are the reason I'm so scared of failing, you are the reason I cried myself to sleep for years.

You probably don't remember any of the things you did to me, I wasn't important to you, but you made me feel so small. I needed your help, I needed your support, but instead, you made me fear you. I got to the point where I hated going to school because I had no one to turn to. I was given a red card for my asthma attacks, which I now realize were panic attacks. The first two times I came to you, you helped me stay calm, but after that any time I came to you, you told me to get over it and turned me away. How could you?! I didn't know what was happening to me and I needed an adult I could trust to help me. I was 11 years old and I felt like I couldn't breathe, and you told me to get over it and go back to class.

Another time I came to you because I felt like I was being treated differently by someone in my form group. I spoke to Mr. McGarvey first because I couldn't find you, and he was so helpful. He left a note for you saying that I wanted to speak to you. Instead of you coming to speak to me first, you called me and the other student out of class and made me confront her there and then. Why did you do that? I felt as though she hated me and was turning people against me, and you made me ask her to her face, which she obviously denied. You made it awkward for both of us, not just me. That was not how you should have done it. You should have spoken to us both separately, and then if need be, we could have spoken to each other. Instead, you put us both on the spot.

There were other little things you did which made me feel like I was being singled out. For example, I was walking with a few other girls to my next lesson and there were at least three of us wearing boots, but you only told me off for it. You called me back and said I shouldn't be wearing boots because it was against school rules. So many people wore boots! Why was I the only person being told off for it?

I finally started getting to the point where I was comfortable. I had friends and I was doing well. My mum told me that I had been accepted at another school I had applied to and that she wanted to move me. I begged her not to because I was doing okay, despite how awful you were. I had learned to ignore you, but then you did something that made me realize I couldn't be around you anymore.

I was in a German lesson; the rest of the class were messing around. We had a student teacher, and no one was taking her seriously. Our normal teacher was at the back of the room and no one was listening to her either. I was sat there getting on with my work. Our normal teacher then left the room. When she came back you were with her. You yelled at the whole class and said that the next person caught speaking would be in big trouble. This didn't worry me because I wasn't doing anything wrong. You then left the room and the student teacher carried on with her lesson. As it was a German lesson we were required to repeat after the teacher which is what I was doing. The two girls next to me were talking to each other, and I was repeating what the teacher was saying. You then burst into the room and told one of the girls next to me to stand up. You then looked straight at me and said "Do you think I'm stupid? You stand up too!" I was surprised, I didn't do anything wrong, I was doing what the teacher had asked me to do. You completely humiliated me by doing this and I thought that would be the end of it or at most a warning. Instead, you had something else in mind.

You made us both leave our lesson and go to your office where you shouted at us constantly. I told you I did nothing wrong and you told me to shut up. I tried to tell you I was repeating after the teacher like she asked us too, but you ignored me and wouldn't let me speak. You then called me by my name, but you said it wrong, so I corrected you. Instead of apologizing, you said it incorrectly again twice and then said, "I don't really care." You made fun of my name. I grew up hating my name because no one could say it. All throughout primary school my name was said wrong and I was too young to realize or correct anyone, so when I got to secondary school I made sure it was said right. When you did that it hurt a lot because I went back to being that scared little girl who couldn't speak up for herself.

If that wasn't bad enough, you then made both of us go back into our class and collect our things. The whole room was silent, I could feel everyone staring at me while I put my books and pencil case in my bag. I was trying so hard not to cry. I didn't get why this was happening, I didn't do anything wrong! You then took us to the isolation room and told the supervisor there that we were to stay until the end of school because we were messing around in class. I wanted to shout and scream at you that I didn't, but I kept quiet. I was stuck in that room for an hour and a half, sitting there doing homework, but I couldn't focus because I was so upset. When it was finally time to leave, I went straight out of the doors, down the hill, and into my mum’s car where I burst into tears and told her that I want to move schools soon because I can't take it anymore.

When I told my mum what happened, she was fuming. You probably remember this bit because I'm sure you weren't happy with it. She made a complaint about you. She then met with the headteacher and was told that you had problems in your personal life, which to be honest made no difference at all. When you get to work you leave your personal problems at the door. There was no excuse for how you treated me.

We all knew you were sleeping with the dance teacher even though you were married. This is still no excuse to treat people the way you treated me. You caused your own problems and were taking it out on me, and that is not okay! I guess the purpose of this letter is to tell you what a huge jerk you are and to tell you that I'm not scared of you anymore. I will not let you have that hold over me anymore.

You are not worthy of being an educator, you don't have what it takes to be a figure of authority. All you do is abuse the power, and I can't wait until karma hits you.

Screw you Mr. Jerks!

Signed,

An Empowered Ex-Student