Cape Town - School Report Question and Answers

This is difficult for me, because it seems to come and go depending on the student population. Last year I heard there were severe problems in my daughter's 7th grade class. It's my understanding those problems led to a student attempting suicide due to extreme cyber-bullying, and I find this very serious. The students involved have all left the school so I don't see it as a problem this year. More of a concern to me is the way the administration, handled (or, in my opinion, didn't handle) the issue. We found that it seemed to be swept under the rug. I only know about it because I heard it straight from the mother of the student and from my daughter who was a friend of the child who tried to kill herself. There were a few workshops with students and parents about emotional issues of middle schoolers and bullying for current students. The mother of the affected student would have liked to participate, however, as I understand, the school did not permit this as her child had been withdrawn from the school. The problem never seemed to be addressed specifically and was quickly dropped. I have friends who have been at the school for many years who say that their children experienced extreme bullying from time to time and the administration was not supportive in addressing it. In our own experience, my high school daughter who attended the school for two years did not really make any friends or socialize outside of school. She wasn't deliberately excluded as much as she found she had little in common with other students her age. The "extracurricular" culture of a majority of the students was partying with drugs and alcohol from which she chose to abstain. - Sep 2019