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An inquest has opened into the death of Mia Janin, a year 10 pupil at Jewish Free School (JFS) in the Mall, Kenton.
The 14-year-old was found dead at home on March 12, 2021 after receiving bullying messages on social media.
A pre-inquest hearing on March 30 heard that she was bullied by pupils at her school and that the allegations were raised with staff.
Three months after Mia’s death, Ora Hayes – who was in Mia’s year group – set up a petition that received 6,144 signatures.
In it she said JFS had “not taken accountability for their role in this tragic accident”, saying that “all the school did was bring in counsellors for a week and then leave us to our own devices”.
She wrote: “Regardless of safeguarding, people in the school who have declining mental health or serious diagnosed mental illnesses are not being supported enough.
“I acknowledge that some children that the school are aware of are checked up on however there are many other children that are not going to come forward on their own to ask for help.”
She added: “I am begging for awareness to be more engraved into both society and school life.
“Whether it’s workshops, mandatory lessons or more wellbeing staff or even all, a change must be made.”
In April 2021 JFS was rated ‘inadequate’ by Ofsted and went through a series of interim headteachers until the placement of Dr David Moody as headteacher in December 2021.
In April 2022 the school was rated ‘good’ by the education watchdog.
Ora, now 17, said: “I wrote the petition shortly after Mia’s death.
“Since then there have been a large number of positive changes in the school.”
She added: “The most important thing is that the culture of the school has changed. For example, working alongside the mental health team, I have become trained as a mental health first-aider along with 60 other…
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