Her mother Maria, of Bromley, says Louise is the victim of persistent bullying. She removed her daughter from the school last week after she ran away.

ChildLine received more than 22,000 calls about bullying last year

Louise's case follows that of 13-year-old Amie Salmon, who in February was told she could turn to her form tutor whenever she felt threatened by bullies at Glaisdale Comprehensive School in Bilborough, Nottingham.

Launcelot Primary School's board of governors denies there is a widespread culture of bullying at the school.

'Frightening'

In a statement it said: "It's an unfortunate fact of life that schools have to step in to resolve cases of bullying.

"The important thing is to move swiftly - that is what happened here."

But Maria Beal said she had been frightened by her daughter's experience.

Louise returned to school after staff were enlisted to "protect" her

"It's very frightening, for the child herself and for the mother on the other side who just can't do anything, and has to accept what the school does for the child," she said.

Louise said: "I'm upset and I'm scared to go in there."

Some other parents at the school are still not happy with what the school has done to try to solve the problem, and say that bullying is a regular occurrence there.

'Keep on telling'

Hereward Harrison, director of the children's charity ChildLine, said more than 22,000 had telephoned the charity last year about bullying, and that it was a "very serious issue" in the UK.

He said: "Schools are really attempting doing something, they're really trying to get with the problem, and it's often very difficult. I'm very pleased that Louise has been able to go back to school, which means someone's doing something to help her.

Hereward Harrison: "You can't stop bullying alone"

"Schools have a lot of difficulties, and often they have difficulty with finding out information about bullying. The best people to ask about bullying are the young people themselves.

"You cannot rely on the adults, you must involve the young people in anti-bullying programmes and use them to help other young people."

"Children who phone ChildLine say they've often tried to tell somebody and it hasn't worked - it's got worse, or people haven't listened.

"Please, if you're a young person out there, phone ChildLine, tell somebody you trust, keep on telling. You do need help to stop bullying, you can't stop it alone."