An inquest heard that a SCHOOLGIRL took her own life after experiencing terrible fear about returning to school after the Covid-19 lockdown and ‘falling behind on coursework.’

When kids returned to class for the first time, Kayley Taylor, 14, was unable to get out of bed or dress because of her nervousness.

After experiencing connection troubles on Microsoft Teams and struggling to keep up with homework, the “little poppet” informed her mother, “You don’t understand, I can’t do it.”

Kayley’s mother said that her all-girls high school, where another adolescent had recently committed suicide, “pressed” her daughter to return, and that her GP “failed her down” by neglecting to talk with or see her.

Kayley hung herself in a park yards from her house in Horsham, West Sussex, on June 17 last year, after texting a friend, “I love you but I can’t handle it anymore… I want to kill myself.”

After Kayley sent her a Snapchat video explaining her plan, another frightened friend hurried to the forest spot and urgently tried to persuade her out of killing herself.

However, the youngster sadly observed her schoolmate hang herself. Kayley had attempted suicide at the same woods location a week before.

Kayley, a student at Millais Secondary School, was the second student at the 1,500-girl school to die in the last six weeks due to mental health issues, following 14-year-old Robyn Skilton’s death on May 7, 2021.

Kayley’s mother, Melissa Taylor, claimed today at the inquest in Chichester, West Sussex, that her daughter was a “conscientious student” who enjoyed spending time with her family, especially visiting her grandmother and playing crazy golf, croquet, and table tennis.

“She was peaceful, quiet, loving, generous, and kind,” she added, citing school reports. She felt nervous after the lockdown.

“She endured worry from the first day they returned,” She was weeping in her bed on the first day, and she gripped me so tightly that there was no way she was going back to school.

“She was concerned since she had been absent from school.”

It broke my heart when she claimed she would be lonely in class if she wasn’t seated alongside her pal. When she was with her friends during the break, she was content.

Kayley’s mother, Melissa Taylor “After then, it was the same. She would not get up on some days, and on others, she would get up, dress, and leave it at that.

“I tried talking to her to encourage her, but she responded, “Mum, you don’t understand, I can’t do it.”

“I inquired if she was going back to school or seeing friends, and she couldn’t explain.”

Mrs. Taylor explained: “The school, I feel, was more concerned with getting her back than with assisting her; they would not allow her to work from home.”

“I was under duress to bring her to school because I was threatened with legal action if I didn’t. They stated that no additional absences would be permitted. Kayley had been let down by her school.

“It broke my heart when she claimed she would be lonely in class if she wasn’t seated alongside her pal. When she was among her pals during the break, she was content.

“She was having a hard time getting into Teams. She continued getting emails from professors saying ‘you are not here’ or ‘log on,’ and she explained that she was having technical difficulties.

“I assured her there was nothing further we could do, ‘don’t worry, don’t panic,'” says the author.

Kayley’s father, Allan Taylor, stated his daughter complained that there were ‘too many people about.’

Mrs Taylor made a phone appointment with Horsham GP Dr Tariq Jahangir, but he refused to talk to Kayley or meet her in person, according to the inquest.

An emotional experience Mr Taylor posed the following question to Dr. Jahangir: “I am convinced that the GP failed us. How come you didn’t see her?”

Dr. Jahangir said he wrote to Kayley’s school, explaining that Kayley didn’t seem very concerned at the time, and that providing medicine to a young child would be unusual.

Mrs Taylor felt she had “nowhere to turn” since she couldn’t receive a referral for Youth Emotional Service [YES], which gives mental health help to teenagers, because Kayley refused to fill out a questionnaire, which she was informed she couldn’t do without her daughter’s permission.

“My issue was that the one time Kayley requested working from home she was just rejected point blank,” Mrs Taylor said in interrogating Mike Sutton, the school’s deputy head and safety lead.

“I’m sorry to learn that the proposal was not taken up; I’d like to think that our flexible approach would have allowed us to stick to it,” Mr Sutton added.

Mr Sutton stated that the school was “obligated to attempt to encourage youngsters to attend school” and that authorities were not involved.

Caroline Jones, Kayley’s tutor, said she offered Kayley and her mother a Samaritans consultation after Robyn died, but she declined.

Emotional Mrs Taylor claimed Ms Jones assisted Kayley, and she sobbed as she described the girl as a “quiet little creature” who never expressed suicide thoughts.

Mrs Taylor and Kayley’s pals stated the adolescent ‘appeared to be in a good mood’ and went to school on the morning of her death.

After school, she texted one friend, “I love you, but I can’t handle it anymore, two of my friends have committed themselves, and I want to commit suicide.”

Kayley, who was in tears and indicated “she was going to end it,” was phoned by a friend, and police were summoned. She discussed “gender identification” with a friend and “thanked them for being supportive” before expressing “I’m sorry for this,” according to phone records.

In one communication, Kayley claimed, “I’ve been battling for a while and I’m going to put a stop to it.”

After paramedics arrived at the location about 5.30 p.m., suicide notes were also discovered.

Kayley murdered herself, according to Coroner Penelope Schofield, who also recorded a narrative conclusion.

“Even though she was 14, she was definitely struggling with her anxieties,” she explained. I’m confident she understood exactly what she was doing.

“She committed suicide while suffering from severe anxiety spurred on by the national lockdown’s consequences and her fears of falling behind in academics.”