AN 11-year-old girl has been withdrawn from a primary school by her parents in a row over bullying.

The youngster has been removed from Pendle Primary School, Clitheroe, after allegedly suffering at the hands of fellow pupils.

Her angry mum, who does not want to be named, has accused the school's head teacher and governing body of failing to deal with the matter.

But the chairman of governors said the school's anti-bullying policy had been applied to the letter.

The pupil is said to have been consistently picked upon by the ring-leader of a group of girls.

She is said to have suffered taunts and had her lunchbox and snacks stolen.

Her mum said: "I have removed my daughter from the school because the situation has got so bad.

"She has been consistently picked on and the pattern seemed to be that they kept going until she was reduced to tears.

"I complained to the head teacher and governors several times, but they failed to deal with the matter. They have refused to acknowledge that bullying exists in the school and let my daughter down."

She added her daughter was now "much happier" settling in at another primary school in the area.

But Pendle Primary School governors' chairman Peter Houldsworth said everything possible had been done to deal with the matter.

He said: "I'm confident that the school did everything in its power to sort this problem out, but you can never satisfy every aspect of a case like this.

"The school does have an anti-bullying policy and tries very hard to deal with such issues, for example by holding regular anti-bullying sessions with youngsters."

A spokesman for Lancashire Education Authority confirmed that welfare officers had been called in to the school over the matter.

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