Dear Emma

It is weird hearing your own voice, isn't it!

Your experience on the school bus sounds very distressing - and I was
glad to read that your mum took it seriously, especially when your
friend didn't seem to understand what was going on. It can be awful
when people pick on something that we might be sensitive about.

It can sometimes be helpful to have some responses ready just in case
someone says something like that. Changing Faces do some pretty good
booklets which give advice on how to deal with exactly that sort of a
situation. You can check out their website on
www.changingfaces.co.uk. They produce a lot of info which is
specific to visible difference. Another organisation which has an
excellent booklet with good ideas in for how to respond to general
bullying is Kidscape. They can be contacted on 020 7730 3300.

Hope this is useful - you and any other member could also bear in
mind that you could call us at CLAPA if you ever want to chat on 020
7431 0033, weekdays during office hours.

Best wishes

Alex

--- In leftclip@yahoogroups.com, ecroyston@a... wrote:
> Hi Alex,
>
> I know I messed up in the exam because when I rewound the tape I
heard myself
> (It sounds really weird hearing your own voice on a tape recorder,
believe
> me!) talking about one thing, then it skipped a whole section and
went onto
> another - I hate those really old tape recorders!! I had the pause
pressed, and I
> thought I'd turned the pause off but I hadn't!! Ho hum...
>
> On another (less bright) note, I got bullied on the school bus
today!! I'm in
> Year 11, and I'm a prefect but does that Year 8 brat care? No!! She
was
> calling me fishface and squash-nose, and in the end I couldn't
tolerate any more of
> her or her mates giggling, so I lashed out. I only brushed her arm,
but
> everyone was yelling "Fight, fight, fight!" like babies. In the end
I gave up and
> burst into tears. Then my friend Sapphire came down from the back
of the bus
> and said "That was well out of order, Emma!" and had a right go at
me - thanks
> Saph, I thought you were my friend!! At home, I bust into tears
again and my
> mum had to spend ages trying to coax it out of me, and she was
horrified at the
> girl's behaviour so she wrote all of the sequence of events down,
and I've
> gotta see my Head of House tomorrow...wish me luck, guys!!!!!!
>
> ALSO, it's Parents' Evening tomorrow night too, and my Maths
teacher's got a
> grudge against me...yikes!!
>
> Lots of love,
>
> Emma
>
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]