Tori was always different from the other children at nursery and at school where she found it difficult to participate in classroom activities. She would never feel confident to put her hand up to answer questions, even though she probably knew the answer but we put this down to a lack of confidence.

Tori always preferred a one to one relationship and did not care to get involved with groups. We tried various activities e.g. swimming, gymnastics, baking brownies and etc. and although she was a good swimmer, she refused to represent the school and eventually gave up swimming classes completely.

The situation came to a head when she moved up to senior school. She chose Alder High School because her best friend Olivia chose it and she felt she would be able to cope with it if she was with Olivia. Then disaster struck, Olivia and her family moved away without warning, leaving Tori totally isolated in a huge school. She initially persevered but eventually, some of the other girls noticed she was different and that’s when the bullying started. The staff helped but she wasn’t happy and the staff could only offer a limited amount of support so she requested a transfer to All Saints as she had a few more friends there.

Once the transfer was completed Tori seemed a little happier for a while but she would only travel to and from school with other girls and navigating the new school became a huge problem. Then there was a couple of minor incidents with some other girls that turned into a massive problem for her to cope with and she flatly refused to go in. This situation lasted the rest of that school year and into the next.

All Saints and Mrs Maddison, the attendance officer, were very understanding and offered her the chance to enrol in some classes for Maths and English with Nisai Learning. This proved to be a godsend. Initially, she was the only student in the classes and she benefited greatly from the 1 to 1. Eventually, though, other students joined the classes and she had some difficulty accepting the change, however, she eventually overcame her fears and has gone from strength to strength. She has done extremely well in English although it wasn’t a lesson she had particularly enjoyed at school because she found it impossible to speak out. Her English teacher Hayley, was so patient and supportive, to the point where Tori was eventually interacting with the other students, which was amazing.

The classroom interactions improved through the rest of the term and she enjoyed her work saying that the teachers at Nisai were the best she’s ever had. Then one morning she logged into the site to find she was pupil of the week – we were all over the moon! Then, not too long afterwards we got a call from Karina to say she was student of the year, with 100% attendance and no lates – how far had we come?

Tori’s high school were so pleased with her progress, they have added science to her timetable and she has done so well in her English class that they have moved her up a year. She is now doing mock GCSE’s a year early.

Thank you Nisai, you have worked miracles!