A distraught stepdad has revealed the final Father’s Day letter written by his daughter before she took her own life under the weight of relentless bullying.
Charlotte O’Brien, a Year 7 student at Santa Sabina College at Strathfield in Sydney’s inner-west, took her own life earlier on September 8 after two years of misery where she said students had used confidential information to bully her.
Charlotte’s former primary school, Mary Immaculate Catholic Church in Bossley Park, has allowed a pupil-free day to allow for her funeral at its church on Friday.
Hundreds of friends, students and teachers are expected to attend to support the mourning family.
Her stepdad, Mat, revealed his speech to 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 a number of letters written by the young girl to her parents and those she cared for in the lead-up to taking her own life.
In the final letter to her mother, Kelly, Charlotte asked her to ‘please share my story to raise awareness’ about bullying at the school.
Her parents found the notes left in small pink handwriting after their daughter had taken her life in the upstairs bedroom of the family home.
In a letter to Mat, Charlotte described her dad as ‘more than a captain; you are also like the sea. You can be calm and powerful. Strong when you have to be’, according to the Sunday Telegraph.
She added that he inspires ‘abundance, achievement, and infinite possibilities’ while describing herself as a ‘surfer, riding your waves of support, while you teach me to trust, enjoy the ride and go with the flow’.
‘Dear Dad, I will always cherish you as I sow my seeds and become the captain you taught me to be.’
Another note urged her parents to ‘tell the school’ about her experience to try and have other students receive more support in the future.
Mat and Kelly believe Santa Sabrina College could have done more to stop the bullying inflicted on Charlottoe received.
‘I’m not after retribution for these girls, I’m looking for the schools to step in, to act when things arise for the first time,’ he said.
‘I know these are tough conversations for us all but we need to have these conversations today.’
Emails between Charlotte’s mother and the school reveal Kelly believed the bullying was having ‘severe ramifications’ on her daughter’s mental health.
Mat claimed other parents had also raised the ‘toxic’ culture of the school and that the school needed to just step in as adults and seperate children.
Kelly claimed after their GP called what was happening to Charlotte ‘harassment’ the school reject the term and said it was ‘juvenile behaviour’.
Kelly said on some days Charlotte would burst into tears as they approached school drop-off wailing that she ‘had no friends’, that everyone hated her and she was ‘a monster’.
Santa Sabina College has defended its handling of bullying, saying their anti-bullying policy was available on their website.
‘In the past week, I have been overwhelmed by the number of emails and messages from our families that talk about their children feeling safe and cared for at Santa Sabina College,’ principal Paulina Skerman said.
She said parents ‘objected to the portrayal of our College as failing to deal with matters that cause distress among our students’.