A father who is threatening to take legal action against his bullied daughter's primary school has said he may be forced to remove her from the school altogether.

Des Stewart says that since last September, his six-year-old daughter Stefanie has been strangled, kicked, slapped and punched by another girl at Kings Lodge Primary School in Chippenham, Wiltshire.

He has consulted lawyers, claiming the school has not done enough to protect her.

Now he says that despite frequent meetings with school officials, the attacks are continuing and Stefanie is frightened to attend school.

He fears that the only way to prevent her from being victimised is to send her to another school.

'We are appalled'

Mr Stewart, a golf company director, said: "it is an absolute travesty that this is still going on. We are appalled by it. My daughter has the right to an harassment-free education.

"It's getting to the stage where we are having to consider the option of taking her away from the school, but we will continue with the legal action even if we do."

Mr Stewart, who lives in Pewsham, Wiltshire, said he would be writing to the Education Secretary, David Blunkett, about the situation.

Kings Lodge head teacher Jane Ratcliff said the school had been working closely with both sets of parents since October.

"The school feels appropriate action has been taken throughout and we reiterate that its main priority is the education and wellbeing of all pupils."

She said the school had been praised after a recent Ofsted inspection for good relationships within the school, and the good behaviour of its pupils.

Warning

Earlier this week, David Hart, General Secretary of the National Association of Head Teachers warned that schools which refuse to take bullying seriously could face increasing legal action from victims.

He urged his members to stamp out bulling by pupils and staff in their schools as the union published guidelines for anti-bullying policies to protect both pupils and teachers.

In October, North Yorkshire education authority paid £6,000 to the parents of 18-year-old John Carnell, after claiming the school had failed to prevent six years of bullying.

Last month, research suggested that despite the efforts in schools to counter the problem, almost one in four primary pupils in the UK are bullied.