The coroner asked what kind of response Edkins hoped for from the school.
Edkins said: “I would have thought just being a bit more compassionate and understanding towards someone struggling with self-esteem – for Taylor to receive a bit more compassion and understanding around that time.”
A lawyer for Lee’s family asked principal Rachel Hutchinson if this was a missed opportunity to consider the impact of the new behaviour policy on students like him. Hutchinson agreed it was.
Hutchinson said she felt Lee’s SEND needs were “competently met” by the school, adding Lee “struggled with the culture” the leadership was trying to create.
Lee’s mother, Michelle Lee, raised her concerns on 6 November 2023 about the number of resets and reflections he was being given.
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Richard Brooks, a youth worker who met Lee several times in the autumn term, told the inquest he seemed “unhappy” and “apprehensive”.
He said Lee told him “every day [at school] was a battle and it’s exhausting”.
The inquest heard that, in the month before Lee died, he broke down in tears at school on 2 October and told a member of staff he had self-harmed and was thinking about suicide.
Asked by the coroner what action the school took after this disclosure, Hutchinson said they contacted his parents and “kept a closer eye on him”.
But the coroner concluded there was no evidence Lee’s teachers were informed he had self-harmed or was having suicidal thoughts.
The family’s counsel said Lee was “highly intelligent” and a “talented musician” who enjoyed spending time with his friends and skateboarding.
The inquest heard his parents found him unconscious in his bedroom. He died on 18 November 2023.
Longhorn concluded that, while Lee had experienced mental health issues for some time, his treatment at school and what he saw as unfair school sanctions had the most significant impact on his mood.