Documentary on schoolgirl suicide sent to schools

A DOCUMENTARY about a Cork schoolgirl who took her life after being bullied for five years has been posted to every secondary school in the country to educate students about the devastating effects of abuse.

The Diary of Leanne Wolfe, the award-winning RTÉ radio documentary, contains chilling and moving extracts from the schoolgirl’s diaries written in the months and days before she took her life.

The diaries were discovered by her family after the tragedy.

Leanne’s mother Colette said she and her husband did not realise their daughter was being bullied.

“The documentary was a very difficult thing to make,” she said. “But we wanted something good to come out of it and, when it was being made, we asked it if might be possible to send the documentary out to schools in the hope that it could save a life.”

Ms Wolfe said it had been heartbreaking to make, and to listen to, but it was the right thing to do.

“We have seen the devastation bullying can cause,” she said. “Suicide is such a taboo and so is bullying but something like this opens it up and Leanne would have wanted the diaries out there.”

Ms Wolfe said schools did not seem to be handling the situation and she feared for her grand-children.

She hears regularly from worried parents whose children are being bullied.

“The schools don’t seem to know what to do — even though they know who is doing the bullying.”

Ms Wolfe maintains her daughter would be alive today if more was done in schools to tackle bullying.

“It started off as something so small, but had such an effect.”

“I really think if someone had reached out to Leanne, it could have made a difference.”

The documentary maker Ciaran Cassidy said it had been sent out by RTÉ, with permission from the Department of Education.

“A letter was sent with it saying it would be left up to each school’s discretion to use or not.”

Mr Cassidy said RTÉ had already received positive feedback from teachers.

“It gives an insight into both sides — the bully may realise that their actions can have consequences and someone who is being bullied will realise they are not alone.”

A spokesperson for the National Parents Council (Post-Primary) said it was important tools like this were not left on the shelf, but that parents should be made aware of the material first.