Bullied overweight girl upset after being sent script to play gluttonous character in school play

An overweight girl was disgusted when her school sent her a script to read the lines of glutton Augustus Gloop from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Lees Brook Community School sent a script home to pupil Lexi Shaw, 12, of Chaddesden, Derby, with her initials next to the part. Gloop’s lines include: “I love the chocolate” and “I must eat all the time”. Lexi, who has been bullied at school over her weight, was off sick with tonsillitis when she received the script. She was invited to learn the lines: “Chocolate, chocolate, chocolate. I love the chocolate! UMMMMM!”



In the Roald Dahl book, Augustus Gloop is an overindulgent, obese boy, with an insatiable love of chocolate. Lexi’s mum Becky Shaw said when her daughter first saw the script, she was “angry, sad and embarrassed because she really hates how she looks”. Miss Shaw, 30, said: “I was disgusted, fuming.” Miss Shaw said she had phoned the school to talk to them about the issue on multiple occasions only to be told she would receive a call back – but has yet to hear from them. She said Lexi has tried very hard to lose weight, with the family even taking advice from health professionals.

She said: “We have had so many meetings about her weight so for them to do this is absolutely disgusting.” The script was sent home via Lexi's brother Harley, 11, as Lexi has not been to school for four weeks. Lexi said she was upset and confused when she saw the script and feared she would have to read the lines in front of a thousand school students. Lexi, who also has learning difficulties, said she did not audition for a part in any production at any point. Lees Brook’s head teacher Zoe House said the school would not make Lexi do anything she didn't want to do and would look into how the decision had been made to give her the part of Augustus. The school said the Year 8 pupils had been split into groups to each read a part from that page on the script.



Mrs House said: “The drama co-coordinator rang home to discuss things with mum and reassure that we would obviously sort things out for Lexi but mum did not answer and has not returned the call.” Mrs House added she was concerned by Lexi's attendance. This is the latest of a string of issues the family have had at Lees Brook and at Chaddesden Park Primary School before that. Lexi struggles do the work she is set and Miss Shaw has long believed she should be taken out of mainstream education and put into a special school. Miss Shaw, who is a butcher, said: “She doesn't understand any of the work so she then doesn't understand what she is doing there and gets frustrated. I don’t want her to be one of those 18-year-olds who doesn't know what to do.” An NHS clinical psychology assessment done this year found that Lexi does have a learning disability.