Parents of a prestigious school where a young girl was driven to suicide from online bullying are frustrated by its lack of action to prevent further attacks and claim that the saga wasn’t a one-off.
The family of Brisbane schoolgirl Ella Catley-Crawford, 12, made the heartbreaking decision to turn off her life support on Saturday after she attempted to take her life a week earlier.
She had spent nine months being targeted by ruthless online bullies over popular photo sharing app, Snapchat.
Ella had received an academic scholarship at Lourdes Hill College, an elite private girls school, in February this year.
She spent one term there before she moved to nearby coeducational school Redlands College in a desperate bid to escape her tormentors.
Several parents at Lourdes Hill College were shocked to hear the ‘horrendous’ news of Ella’s passing while others blamed the school’s policies on bullying and say more needs to be done to address the issue.
One mother, who wished to stay anonymous, claimed she heard about Ella’s death on her way to school drop-off on Wednesday.
‘I just felt sick in the stomach,’ she told the Courier Mail.
‘This is the second time something like this has happened since we have been at the school and I asked her how is the school responding to this and she said there hasn’t been any conversations about it yet.’
The mother’s daughter, who knew Ella, learnt of the 12-year-old’s death through social media and discussions with classmates earlier in the week.
‘My daughter is happy at the school but she also hasn’t had the best experiences to be honest, not as much bullying but with some of her teachers,’ the mother said.
‘I think there are issues that aren’t handled very well and it’s happened before, but I even see it at work, today’s society is not very well prepared to handle mental health and all those feelings, especially among young kids – so we’ve got lots to learn.’
Lourdes Hill College principal Kay Gleeson emailed parents on Tuesday afternoon to advise them of Ella’s tragic death and to offer students support from on-campus counsellors.
‘We understand that the next few weeks will be particularly difficult, and members of the community may have different responses to this tragedy,’ Ms Gleeson wrote.
‘We understand that our community will have many questions about this matter, however, out of respect to those affected, I ask that we avoid any speculation or discussion.
‘Our students’ wellbeing remains our highest priority, and we are committed to providing a caring, safe and supportive environment. We have a zero-tolerance policy against bullying, and all students participate in our age-appropriate Stella Wellbeing Program.
‘Our College values remind us of our strength as a community to support each other during challenging times.’
However, the Lourdes Hill mother claimed the school wasn’t doing enough to address ongoing bullying issues.
She also welcomed tougher age restrictions.
‘I think the 16 age cap is 100 per cent needed, they’re way too young, their brains are not developed, they don’t know what’s wrong and they still need adult supervision,’ she said.
Ella’s torment began shortly after she took up an academic scholarship at the school.
Her ‘hyper-vigilant’ mum Julie Crawford, 55, moved her to Redlands College after just one term, but says the damage had already been done.
‘She was immediately happier, and the new school was great, but the bullies still got to her via the apps,’ Ms Crawford told Daily Mail .
The 12-year-old’s torment came as no surprise to her devoted mum who had given Ella her old phone for Christmas to entertain her on the bus to and from school.
She had banned her from using apps like TikTok and Snapchat, but when Ella started Year Seven, she saw her daughter was glued to her phone screen.
‘I thought she was just texting her new friends at first,’ she said.
‘I knew they had a Year Seven group chat, but it was Snapchat.
‘I made her delete it straight away even though she told me she was being safe.
‘I don’t know how but she made another account and hid it from me.’
Despite Ms Crawford’s repeated attempts to stamp out Ella’s social media use, the bullying quickly escalated and regularly left her daughter in tears.
Then in March Ms Crawford, an HR manager, received a call from the school alleging concerns had been raised that Ella, who was then 11, had been bullying other students online.
‘I told them ‘I don’t think so’, that they had it wrong and they investigated it further,’ she said.
Days later, three Year Seven girls were suspended from Lourdes College for bullying Ella online.
The school never gave Ms Crawford the details of their findings, but the damage was already done, her mum said.
‘I don’t know exactly what it was all about,’ she added.
‘People had pretended to be people they were not, one girl pretended to be a boy and messages Ella sent to them were shared around to others.
‘Friends started to pull away from her and she was uninvited to a birthday party with some of the kids saying they needed a break, that it was too much, that she was too much.’
Ms Crawford moved her ‘bright and quirky,’ daughter to Redlands College at the end of the first term in April.
But although Ella was instantly happier and making new friends, she couldn’t escape the online abuse which followed her.
‘Ella was so down I took her to the doctors, and she was diagnosed with depression and on medication,’ her mother told Daily Mail .
‘But I made sure I was always around and that we had things to do to keep her busy.’
Ms Crawford says that when her daughter was distracted with things to look forward to, her ‘best friend and love of her life,’ was her former happy self.
But as soon as she was left with her phone, things quickly changed.
‘Some days in the holidays she wouldn’t get out of bed,’ said her mum.
‘I just hoped it wouldn’t get worse but I never expected her to kill herself.’
Ms Crawford found her daughter apparently lifeless on Sunday, October 27 and began CPR while waiting for paramedics.
Ella was rushed to Queensland Children’s Hospital in Brisbane and spent a week on life support before doctors confirmed she had no brain activity.
Queensland Police have Ella’s phone and iPad and are now investigating her death.
On Monday, Andrew Johnson, principal at Redlands College, sent a text message to parents of Year Seven students with details of a special counselling service.
Students in Ella’s year were told of her death on the same day.
‘The college will not make any formal announcements to other year levels but will invite parents to make the decision about if and when they share this news with their son or daughter,’ Mr Johnson added.
Ella’s heartbroken mum says without her, she has nothing left, so will now dedicate herself to raising awareness in the hope she can help others.
Her family has set up a GoFundMe to help pay for the funeral costs, time off work to grieve and to facilitate more awareness. More than $133,000 has been raised within three days.
Ella mum’s issued a heartfelt plea to supporters on the online fundraiser on Wednesday, vowing to lobbying the government.
‘Thank you to all of the wonderful people who took the time and their hard earned money to read our beautiful Ella’s story, cut so short. Our hearts are broken and our lives changed for ever,’ Ms Crawford wrote.
‘Your kind and generous donations will help us to give Ella a beautiful funeral, medical bills, time to grieve and to also fund education programs about social media and children.
‘If you can write to Snapchat and get them to change some settings to stop bullies and block them. We plan to rally the government in for this to help save the lives of our children.
Daily Mail has contacted Lourdes Hill College for comment.
If you or someone you know needs support, contact Lifeline 13 11 14 or Beyond Blue 1300 22 46 36.