James beats the bullies to become A* student (From Echo)
Get involved: send your pictures, video, news and views by texting ECHONEWS to 80360, or email us »
James beats the bullies to become A* student
1:20pm Thursday 26th August 2010 in Education By Paul Offord
James Perry
A YOUNGSTER who missed a year of school after being bullied has fought back to achieve five A*s and seven A grades in his GCSEs.
James Perry, 17, from Shoebury, missed a year and developed a phobia of going back into the classroom after suffering at the hands of bullies for two years.
But since transferring to St John’s School, in Billericay, he has astounded teachers and hopes now to forge a career as a vet.
James, who is dyslexic, says he hopes his achievement will inspire other children who are being bullied.
He said: “I would like to say to other children being bullied that you have to tell someone about it and get it sorted out. Don’t suffer in silence.
“It would be nice to think other people going through the same thing I did, might read this and see that, however bad things may be at the time, you can make it through.”
James’s bullying got so bad at his former school in Southend, he could not set foot inside a classroom without suffering anxiety attacks.
He was diagnosed with school phobia and dropped out of education for a year, before transferring to St John’s, where a special regime was set up to help him overcome his fears.
Headteacher Fiona Armour explained: “We started by just arranging for James to stand outside the school and say hello to one of our teachers – then we asked him to come into school on another day and speak to me.
“This moved on to arranging for him to spend an hour in a lesson, which he was able to do, and he gradually went from strength to strength.
“We’re are so proud of James. The results he has achieved were just unthinkable when he first started here and he is a genuinely nice, respectful, decent person too.”
James’s proud mum Julie added: “Everyone at St John’s has been absolutely brilliant. They went out of their way to make James feel really welcome.
“He missed a year of school and was dyslexic, so we were warned not to expect much at all from his GCSEs. Yet James overcame everything and has done brilliantly.”
Comments(17)
anon anon
says...
1:25pm Thu 26 Aug 10
AuldGit
says...
1:26pm Thu 26 Aug 10
I wonder what sort of results his former bullies achieved!
Well done, James!
I heard it on the grapevine
says...
1:30pm Thu 26 Aug 10
Baker_Boy
says...
1:32pm Thu 26 Aug 10
note to poster if you start aint GCSE comment or exam are to easy they will be removed as this aint the place yet again
mindboggles
says...
1:38pm Thu 26 Aug 10
Lady Redbull
says...
1:42pm Thu 26 Aug 10
boom
says...
1:55pm Thu 26 Aug 10
springthing
says...
2:01pm Thu 26 Aug 10
essex beaufighter
says...
2:24pm Thu 26 Aug 10
Hopefully the school bullies have been appropriately dealt with?
cinderella5
says...
3:55pm Thu 26 Aug 10
juba3
says...
4:22pm Thu 26 Aug 10
Colleen G
says...
4:33pm Thu 26 Aug 10
k4y1
says...
6:41pm Thu 26 Aug 10
Colleen G wrote:Great well done, it baffles me why people feel the need to bully, perhaps they have an underlying problem. My dad used to say one day they will pick on the wrong person. Fantastic, well done Jame's all the best for the future.
Lovely story, well done James. Such a shame our schools still let us down when it comes to bullying, even in this day and age. Good luck in the future.
emcee
says...
3:40am Fri 27 Aug 10
k4y1 wrote:Well done.
Colleen G wrote:Great well done, it baffles me why people feel the need to bully, perhaps they have an underlying problem. My dad used to say one day they will pick on the wrong person. Fantastic, well done Jame's all the best for the future.
Lovely story, well done James. Such a shame our schools still let us down when it comes to bullying, even in this day and age. Good luck in the future.
However, "school phobia"? I wonder how many more kids will now suddenly get this, now that they know such a thing exists?
:o)
Colleen G
says...
8:08am Fri 27 Aug 10
k4y1 wrote:I blame it on society and a lack of education. I used to be a bully at secondary school for a few months. The more I did it the more *powerful* I *appeared* to my naive self. Of course I never knew I was doing it, or that's what was happening, I just did it. Aged about 12 at the time, and not a bad, bad bully but bad enough. I'd picked on a lad one day and he did nothing back, completely submissive. I walked away and felt such a horrid **** I never did it again, and since then will ALWAYS fight for the underdog. I'm guessing if someone had grassed or seen what I was doing, I could have seen the error of my ways quite quickly. These days it seems even though we know the bullying occurs, who does it, nothing of consequence is ever done. It's not so much the bullying occurs, especially in this warped world we live in, it's that we dont take it seriously enough apart from lip service. You're old pops is quite right too. It's only once you get a good kicking yourself you realise what a weed you really are and theres actually more to life than being topdog. Well some of us do.
Colleen G wrote: Lovely story, well done James. Such a shame our schools still let us down when it comes to bullying, even in this day and age. Good luck in the future.Great well done, it baffles me why people feel the need to bully, perhaps they have an underlying problem. My dad used to say one day they will pick on the wrong person. Fantastic, well done Jame's all the best for the future.
APR
says...
11:22pm Fri 27 Aug 10
Mark D says...
1:21pm Thu 26 Aug 10