A distraught stepfather has revealed the last Father’s Day letter his daughter wrote before killing herself under the weight of relentless bullying.
Charlotte O’Brien, a Year 7 student at Santa Sabina College in Strathfield in Sydney’s inner west, took her own life earlier on September 8 after two years of misery during which she said students had used confidential information to target her. bullying.
Charlotte’s former primary school, Mary Immaculate Catholic Church in Bossley Park, has allowed a pupil-free day to allow for her funeral at the church on Friday.
Hundreds of friends, students and teachers are expected to attend to support the grieving family.
Her stepfather, Mat, revealed that his speech at the funeral will include a Father’s Day letter written by Charlotte just a week before her tragic death.
He said her words reflect how much of a “remarkable, caring and thoughtful girl she was.”
It was just one of many letters the young girl wrote to her parents and those she cared for in the run-up to a suicide bombing.
In the last letter to her mother, Kelly, Charlotte asked her to “please share my story to raise awareness about bullying at school.”
The father of Charlotte O’Brien (pictured), a Year 7 student who committed suicide after being relentlessly bullied, will read her final Father’s Day letter to him at her funeral on Friday.
Her parents found the notes left in small pink handwriting after their daughter took her own life in the upstairs bedroom of the family home.
In a letter to Mat, Charlotte described her father as “more than a captain; you are also like the sea. You can be calm and powerful. Strong when necessary,” he said Sunday Telegraph.
She added that he inspires “abundance, achievement and infinite possibilities,” describing herself as a “surfer, riding your waves of support, while you teach me to trust, enjoy the ride and go with the flow to come along’.
“Dear Dad, I will always cherish you as I sow my seeds and become the captain you taught me to be.”
Hundreds of friends, students and teachers are expected to attend Charlotte’s funeral on Friday and support her heartbroken family at her primary school (photo, her funeral booklet)
Pictured: a poem on the back of Charlotte’s funeral booklet
Another note encouraged her parents to inform the school about her bullying experiences so that other students can receive better support in the future.
Mat and Kelly believe Santa Sabrina College could have done more to stop the bullying against Charlotte.
“I’m not looking for retaliation against these girls, I want the schools to step in and take action when something happens for the first time,” he said.
“I know these are difficult conversations for all of us, but we need to have these conversations today.”
Emails between Charlotte’s mother and the school show that Kelly believed the bullying was having a “serious impact” on her daughter’s mental health.
Her parents, Mat and Kelly, believe her high school Santa Sabrina College could have done more to stop the bullying against Charlotte (photo with her family)
Mat claimed that other parents had also fueled the school’s “toxic” culture and that the school should simply intervene as adults and separate the children.
Kelly claimed that after their GP called what happened to Charlotte ‘harassment’, the school rejected the term and said it was ‘juvenile behaviour’.
Kelly said that some days Charlotte would burst into tears when they went to school, whining that she “had no friends,” that everyone hated her and that she was “a monster.”
Santa Sabina College has defended its approach to bullying, saying its anti-bullying policy was available on its website.
“Over the past week, I have been overwhelmed by the number of emails and messages from our families saying their children feel safe and cared for at Santa Sabina College,” said Principal Paulina Skerman.
She said parents “objected to the portrayal of our college as failing to address issues that cause problems among our students.”