A scheme tackling the problem of school bullies in County Durham has been awarded 'Investing in Children' status.

The county's Anti-Bullying Service has set-up mediation and peer support in secondary schools for bullied children to confide in specially-trained older pupils.

The initiative aims to improve services for young people by letting them take control of anti-bullying measures in their schools.

Val McFarlane co-ordinator of the Anti-Bullying Service for County Durham, said the team had worked hard to meet the investor status by working closely with children about bullying.

Text bullying

She told BBC Radio Newcastle new technology meant bullying is getting more difficult to spot, unless children report it.

Ms McFarlane said: "Everyone acknowledges that bullying happens. It happens in every school in every part of the country.

"Now we try to do an awful lot about it and schools are taking our advice on board and letting us into the schools to work together.

"Because of new technology we have email bullying now and we have text message bullying.

"At the same time, I think the same sort of bullying has always gone on.

"Girls tend to be a little bit more covert, its a look and the exclusion, whereas boys are more likely to hit each other and make-up more quickly.

"We are very pleased to receive the Investing in Children status, we have worked very hard to achieve it."