A former Crieff High School pupil says she felt anxious and depressed after allegedly being repeatedly sexually assaulted by a group of senior pupils.
It was late 2010 when Sophie Beattie, then an S1 pupil, claims she was first inappropriately touched by members of the group.
She took her allegations to the junior year head, who Sophie says brushed off her claims after they weren’t caught on CCTV.
While Sophie left school in 2016 she felt inspired to speak out after Anna De Garis, a current pupil, wrote an open letter claiming sexism, bullying and racism is “rife” at the Perthshire secondary school.
Five months after the first alleged incident, Sophie, now 23, escalated the issue to a senior school leader who immediately took her seriously.
This was also the first time she and her family were given a sit-down meeting to discuss the allegations.
The claims were also reported to the police, where Sophie gave a full statement.
Sophie felt she ‘wasn’t taken seriously’
But Sophie would spend the rest of her high school life looking over her shoulder, afraid of what could happen next.
She said: “After the second [complaint] I thought ‘am I making a big deal out of nothing?’
“It make me question myself and the severity of it.
“I definitely felt that I wasn’t really being taken seriously.”
Sophie, who is bisexual, also claims she felt unable to report pupils who bullied her for her appearance, sexuality and her weight.
She said: “My mental health was very unstable within the whole of high school and it’s been an ongoing struggle to try and deal with that continuously through adulthood because of how deep set the idea of not (being) important enough to be listened to is.
“It didn’t matter if someone was getting called a slur, or someone was being attacked for their sexuality.
“It just seemed like it’s an accepted part of school culture and teachers didn’t care.
It just seemed like it’s an accepted part of school culture and teachers didn’t care.”
Sophie Beattie
“You were constantly looking behind your back to see who was going to be the next person to assault or harass me or do something homophobic.”
Sophie hopes school staff are given more training on how to support pupils who are being bullied or who are self-harming.
A teacher, she says, noticed her own self-harm scars but did not – as far as she knows – report them to guidance who would be able to support Sophie.
And she has come forward in the hope that current and future pupils will not have the same experience.
“I was terrified to speak out,” she said. “I felt I didn’t matter and I was a very sheltered and damaged because of some outside school things but a lot to do with the school culture.
“This follows people into adulthood and it can really change the trajectory of someone’s life.”
Perth and Kinross Council have launched an investigation into the allegations regarding Crieff High School.
A spokesman said: “We want all our children and young people to feel safe in our schools and take all allegations of this nature extremely seriously.
“The review will give young people the opportunity to share their experiences directly with us so we can ensure we have the best policies and processes in place.
“We do not tolerate bullying, harassment or discrimination of any kind and would always urge children, parents and carers to report any such incidents to us.”
The Courier contacted Police Scotland regarding the alleged sexual assault however they were unable to confirm details of any involvement.
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