THE recent shocking story of a Nottingham girl whose school seems unable to tackle the bullies that have made her life a misery must have hit home painfully hard in several Lancaster households.

It is exactly the story that is being heard locally time and time again: the victim of bullying is isolated, even asked to move schools.

The bullies themselves, especially when a group, as in the Nottingham case, go more-or-less unpunished.

They see their victim removed from their society, rather than being removed themselves until made to face up to their own nasty behaviour.

A parent who presses the school to act is faced with a school that can seem obsessed with paperwork. It seems to prefer to tick boxes in some paper 'anti-bullying system' than tackle bullies and their parents - even when that system has been shown time and time again to fail the children it is designed to protect.

In fact, some schools' 'anti-bullying systems' can seem designed primarily to protect the school, not our children.

Any Lancaster parent who has had their fears raised, perhaps needlessly, by the appalling Nottingham story, will be relieved to know that there are local schools willing to grasp the nettle of child-protection in school.

Ask your own school what strategies they have in place, whether they have good support from the police, how accountable they are when things go wrong - you may be pleasantly surprised.

Or ask your school to come to a meeting onThursday, May 25 at 7.00 in Lancaster Town Hall, where it can share best strategies with parents and other schools.

Getting bullying out from behind the bike sheds into the open is the best way to tackle it - come on, local schools - let's all see what you're doing about it!

Anne Sweeney, Bowerham Road, Lancaster

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.